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MEMOIR 

OF 

ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, 

& minister of tlje (Christian (Eonngriau, 

AND 

PASTOR OF THE BETHEL CHURCH 

IN PROVIDENCE, K. I. 



By E. EDMUNDS, 

M 

PASTOR OF THE CHRISTIAN CHTTBOH, SUMMER ST., BOSTON. 



" Lives of sainted ones remind us 
We can make our lives sublime — 
And, departing - , leave behind us 
Footsteps on the sands of time ; 
Footprints that perhaps another, 
Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 
Seeing, shall take heart again." 



BOSTON: 
GEORGE W. WHITE, PRINTER, 

SOOLLAY'S BUILDING, COURT STREET, 

1850, 









. - - 






K 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



An account of his birth and family. His conversion. His 
voyages to sea. Call to the ministry, ... 7 

CHAPTER II. 

Commencement of preaching. Ordination. Marriage. A 
testimony of forty years acquaintance, ... 20 

CHAPTER III. 

Study. Difficulties. Improvement. Duty of ministers to 
improve all their powers. Plain preaching, . . 85 

CHAPTER IV. 

Preaching in Taunton and Providence. Removal to Swan- 
sey. Two Baptist churches, 41 

CHAPTER V. 

Labors in Swan3ey continued. Revival of two years. 
Many baptized. His support. Friendly intercourse with 
others. Visiting the sick. How to find Christ, . 48 

CHAPTER VI. 

He is chosen representative. Duty of minister to govern- 
ernment. Love of children. The ministry his great 
theme. At his brother'3 ordination. Loses a child, . 60 



IV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Preaches in Fall River. Visit to the West. Moves to 
Michigan. Indians. Travels and preaches. Sickness. 
Visits New England. Preaches in Providence. Becomes 
Bethel preacher, 66 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Reports, 77 

CHAPTER IX. 

Decline of health. Journey west. The dropsy. Joys of 
home. His death. Reflections, .... 94 

CHAPTER X. 

Reflections on his life, character and ministry. Lines on 
his cenotaph, 104 

CHAPTER XI. 

Letters from Elders E. Shaw, M. How, M. Fernald, Wil- 
liam Taylor, and Brother J. G. Loring. Extract from a 
sermon by G. W. Kilt on. Obituary notices, . .119 

CHAPTER XII. 

The calling of seamen honorable. Their conversion. Their 
value to the world. Poetry. The doctrine of the Lord, 133 



PREFACE. 



In accordance with the suggestions of the many 
friends of Elder Taylor, the following Memoir of 
his life and ministry is now presented to the public. 
It was at first intended to give merely a brief sketch 
in pamphlet form ; but subsequent reflection and the 
judgment of others who are interested in the subject, 
led to the conclusion that a more extended history of 
this excellent man should be given. 

As he left no journal or written sermons from 
which to draw materials of interest for these pages — 
with the exception of Bethel reports, records of mar- 
riages, funerals, and baptisms — it became necessary 
to seek out such reminiscences of him as had been 
treasured in the recollections of the living who were 
the subjects of his personal labors, and of brethren 
in the ministry who had long been intimate with 
him. 

After much labor and research, all which I have 

been able to procure is laid before the reader in the 

following pages. I acknowledge much assistance 
1* 



VI PREFACE. 

from the friends, and especially the widow of our 
deceased brother, who have cordially aided me in 
my endeavors, affording every facility in their power 
to enable me to present as full a biography of Elder 
Taylor as the circumstances would admit. It is to 
be regretted that a more copious account of the inner 
life, the soul's history, its struggles with temptation, 
difficulties, its progress and victories, could not have 
been furnished. A diary would have supplied this 
lack ; though even now, no small indication of these 
may be gathered from the history of the outward 
life, zealous and indefatigable labors in advancing the 
Redeemer's kingdom in the world. 

Hoping that this Memoir may answer, in some 
humble degree, the wishes of the numerous friends 
of our brother, and be a record of the virtues of one 

" On earth belo\ed, — 
In heaven remembered still," 

it is given, with the desire that it may be received 
with favor, and help to perpetuate the memory of the 
good on earth. 

E. Edmunds. 
Boston, February, 1850. 



MEMOIR. 



CHAPTER I. 



An account of his birth — Family— K is conversion — Voyages to 
sea — Call to the ministry. 

Benjamin, the second son of James and Anna 
Taylor, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts ; 
July 22d, 17S6. His parents had a family of 
fourteen children, twelve of whom lived to grow 
up and be settled in life. Of nine sons, four 
became preachers, three in the Christian Con- 
nexion, and one in the Baptist. A daughter 
also married a minister ; and a grandson studied 
with a view to the ministry, but died before 
completing his education. 

Of the parents we are informed, they both 
professed religion and joined the Baptist Church 
in Sutton, N. H., whither they moved while 
Benj amin was young. Subsequently on remov- 
ing to Salem, Massachusetts, they became 
members of the Christian Church in that place, 
under the care of Elder Jones. They were 
pious, exemplary people, and are still spoken of 
with respect and affection by brethren who knew 
them forty years ago. The father deceased 



3 



MEMOIR OF 



May 30, 1811, aged forty-six years — before his 
departure, he requested that devout men, as in 
the ease of Stephen, might carry him to his 
burial. The mother is still living (January, 
1850), with her son Elder James Taylor, in 
Rhode Island, at the advanced age of eighty- 
three years. Her devotion and piety was of that 
character that she never took up her children to 
feed them even, without secretly asking the 
blessing of God upon them. 

Of the childhood and early life of Benjamin, 
the subject of this Memoir, the eldest brother, 
William,^ writes me as follows: — " Benjamin 
and myself were born in Beverly, Massachusetts. 
The first recollection I have concerning him, is 
connected with the following circumstance. 
There was a well in the back part of my father's 
house, into which Benjamin fell, the curb being 
low, when about two years old. The well was 
some twenty feet deep, but he being thickly 
clad, laid upon the surface of the water which 
was several feet deep, until a man was sent for 
half a mile distant who went down with a rope, 
by which Benjamin was drawn out unhurt ex- 
cepting a small fracture of the skin on his fore- 
head. Four or five years after this, my father 
moved from Beverly to Londonderry, N. H., 
and from here to Warren, and soon after to 
Sutton, at which place for the most part he 
brought up his family. Benjamin, so far as I 
know, previous to his religious impressions, was 

* He is a useful and respected Baptist minister, in the 
State of Michigan. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. \J 

well disposed towards religious things — and was 
remarkable for his decision of character. He 
had nothing more than a common school edu- 
cation — and when not at school labored w T ith 
my father on the farm. 

" In the summer of 1802 there was a revival of 
religion under the labors of a licentiate by the 
name of Applebee, of the Free Will Baptists, 
and my brother Benjamin, when about sixteen 
years of age, was the first who came out openly 
on the Lord's side. He immediately took an 
active part in religious meetings — and it was 
soon discovered that he had speaking talents. 
The impression soon became general that he 
would, as the expression was at that day, have 
to preach. In the fall of 1S02 my father, moth- 
er, Benjamin -and myself, were all baptized at 
the same time, by an Elder Webster, from 
Vermont. We all united with the Baptist 
Church in Sutton, excepting my brother, who 
had some difficulty in his mind with regard to 
the doctrine of election as then held by that 
Church. He consequently never united with 
that Church, nor to my knowledge' with any 
other, till after he left going to sea. He how- 
ever continued to exhort in the meetings and 
seemed to enjoy religion for sometime. At 
length he declined in his religious fervor, and 
began to neglect his duty, immediately upon 
which he became very melancholy and retiring. 
He would often absent himself from all compa- 
ny, and repair to some remote place or part of 
the house, wrap himself in bedclothes and lay 
and groan half a day at a time — and when any 



' 



10 MEMOIR OF 

one inquired the cause of his trouble, he would 
make little or no reply. After being exercised 
in this way for sometime, his troubles seemed 
to wear away and he became still more neglect- 
ful of religious duties, and finally attended balls 
and parties of pleasure, trying at the same time 
to make himself believe that all was well, and 
that all men would at last be saved ; yet he 
would often betray a want of confidence in this, 
and show plainly that his mind was not at 
rest. 

" In 1804, as nearly as I can now recollect, my 
father removed from Sutton, back to Beverly, 
with all his family excepting myself and a sister. 
Benjamin remained with the family in Beverly 
perhaps two years or more, when my father 
again moved and settled in Salem, a short dis- 
tance only from Beverly, and fifteen miles from 
Boston. My brother now went to sea, and I 
think made his first voyage without much trou- 
ble. His second voyage was to France, and 
while there an embargo was laid on all Ameri- 
can vessels in port. They were in Bayonne, 
and detained there I think eleven months^. 

* At the time of his going to sea, Napoleon Bonaparte 
was in his glory, and pushing his victorious arms from city 
to city, and from nation to nation. Nearly every power in 
Europe was at war with France, and terror-stricken at the 
success of her arms. During Benjamin's detention in 
France, he saw Bonaparte a number of times, and often 
referred to it in his preaching afterward. Once he saw 
him reviewing his army with great care and interest which 
he described, as being a very imposing sight. At another 
time in Bayonne, a town near to the border of Spain, he 
saw Bonaparte and Josephine his wife in familiar conver- 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 11 

They were at length discharged, and on their 
passage home came near being lost. By bad 
weather and head winds their voyage was pro- 
tracted, so that they were put on short allowance 
for sometime. Once their vessel was thrown 
on her beam ends and they all expected to go 
to the bottom, but she righted again, and after 
a tedious voyage they arrived safe in port. 

" I do not know that my brother's mind was 
very much exercised on religious subjects from 
the time that his religious feelings declined un- 
til his troubles during this voyage. I did not 
however often see him after he left Sutton, but 
have heard him speak of his feelings while in 
France, and on his way home, that he felt as 
did Jonah when 4 the billows and waves passed 
over him.' His afflictions, however, were sanc- 
tified to him, and soon after his return he resum- 

sation. It would appear that they had met after a short 
absence, and were in earnest conversation in regard to the 
conquest of Spain, as a short time after that he placed 
Joseph Bonaparte his brother, on the Spanish throne. It 
might be observed here, that Josephine is said to have been 
of signal service to Napoleon in laying out and executing 
his loftiest plans of war and conquest. His great success 
is said also to have been owing as much to her enlarged and 
clear views of action, as to his unexampled skill and valor. 
And when in after time he was about to divorce her, from 
motive of policy, she took him to a window and pointing to 
a star in the heavens brighter than the rest, said "that star 
is mine — and like that, united we stand, but divided we 
fall." But he whose heart was already calloused with war 
and crime, still persisted, and left the amiable Josephine for 
the embrace of another. His hastening ruin and final over- 
throw show how true were the words spoken by one who 
loved. 



12 MEMOIR OF 

ed his religious profession, and commenced 
preaching." 

At the time that Benjamin declined from the 
ways of religion, we learn from various sources, 
it was almost entirely owing to his trials about 
preaching, and the opposition which he felt in 
his mind to it. Soon after he experienced re- 
ligion, he believed God called him to preach ; 
but being young, with very limited education, 
and diffident withal, he saw not how he could 
obey this command. He however loved God, 
delighted in his service, and desired to do his 
will, but to go forth in preaching the gospel, 
seemed to him an impossibility. He very justly 
felt his own insufficiency for this work, but did 
not see that " God could choose the foolish 
things of the world to confound the wise ; and 
weak things to confound the things which are 
mighty;" and that he doth " out of the mouth 
of babes and sucklings perfect praise." Could 
he have seen this, and that God often calls men 
into the ministry with a view that that call shall 
lead them to a preparation for, as well as to the 
ministry itself, which is evidently the case, it 
would have been a great relief, as well as bene- 
fit to his mind. Or, on the other hand, had he 
decided in regard to preaching like this : "I will 
try to do my duty to-day and trust God for 
grace to do it to-morrow ; I will speak and pray 
in public and private, doing all I can for the glory 
of God and the salvation of men — and then if 
in after time, I find it my duty to preach, or if 
my exhortations grow into preaching, well and 
good. At all events I will go forward in doing 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 13 

what I believe to be the will of God ?iow, and 
to-morrow must take thought for itself." Had he 
taken this view of his duty, and gone forward 
in this way, he doubtless would have been pre- 
served from falling, even from the commence- 
ment of his Christian course. But so he did not, 
and so many before and since have not done ; 
but it is hoped the relation of his experience 
will help to guide others who may read these 
pages, in a more consistent course and obedient 
path of duty. 

The great difficulty with many persons is, 
they look at the duties of a whole life as if they 
were to be done in a day, and thus become dis- 
couraged — when, if they remembered that each 
duty has a space allotted for its performance, 
together with a precious promise, " my grace 
is sufficient for thee," they would press forward 
with a cheerful courage. If a man have a hun- 
dred miles to walk, he has only to take a step 
at a time, to accomplish the whole, which, in due 
time, is as easily done as if it were but one mile. 
Therefore we should go forward, step by step, 
and moment by moment, till all life's duties 
are accomplished. Had Sabbath schools been 
in operation then, as now, they doubtless would 
have been of great service to him in opening a 
field for Christian labor, and useful means of 
preparation for that higher and more responsible 
work of preaching the gospel in after time. As 
this was not the case, he then saw no other way 
before him, but either to commence preaching 
immediately, or to withhold his public testimony 
in speaking, and endeavor to pursue a medium 
2 



14 MEMOIR OF 

and retired Christian life. The former he 
thought he could not possibly do, and in 
attempting the latter, he fell into that state 
of religious decline and melancholy to which 
the reader has been referred. 

How natural that in smothering the fire, it 
should go out, that in withholding more than is 
meet, it should tend to poverty. As in the nat- 
ural, so in the spiritual world — the fire of di- 
vine love in the soul struggles for utterance, but 
if buried and stifled too long, languishes and 
dies. " No man lighteth a candle and putteth it 
under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it may 
give light to all that are in the house." How 
many young men, like our brother, have felt this 
same call, " Go ye into all the world and preach 
the gospel to every creature," but have shrunk 
from bearing the cross, and sought " to climb 
up some other way;" in doing which they have 
ceased to follow Christ, " left their first love," 
and brought darkness and doubt upon their 
minds. How pertinent are the words of the 
Saviour to such, " Walk while ye have the light, 
lest darkness come upon you." 

It was while in this state of mind that he 
gave back in his zeal for God and fell from his 
steadfastness in Christ, and it was during these 
impressions he resolved on going to sea. His 
wife writes me of these early exercises, " the 
cry still followed him wherever he went, sound- 
ing in his ears, ' woe is me if I preach not the 
gospel.' He went to sea with the hope of 
finding peace of mind, but in this was mistaken ; 
and after following the seas for two or three 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 15 

years, and undergoing many hardships, he re- 
turned to his native land, some in debt, and firm- 
ly convinced that he must preach the gospel at 
the loss of all things." 

His sea-faring hie, however, prepared him as 
in a furnace, to endure hardness as a good sol- 
dier of Christ, and especially to labor so suc- 
cessfully for seamen as he did in the last years 
of his life. On returning from sea, he found in 
Salem a company of brethren in whom he was 
greatly interested. The preacher was none other 
than the lamented Elder Abner Jones, ^ who had 
commenced holding meetings in this ancient 
town some time before, and had gathered a 
small church. He was at once drawn to 
them in spirit and love. On attending their 
meetings, he felt that this was just such a 
people as he desired to find at the com- 
mencement of his Christian life. Their religious 
views, their manner ol worship, their zeal, spirit, 
freedom and love, seemed so like the apostolic 
church, that he longed to be joined with them 
in " an everlasting covenant not to be forgotten." 
He now had mingled feelings of sorrow and 
joy — of sorrow that he had so far wandered 
from God — of joy that he found a people to 
whom his heart was drawn in tender affection. 
During a prayer meeting one evening, he arose 
and confessed his backsliding, and requested the 
people " to pray for him, that the Prodigal son 

* He was the first minister in New England that came out 
on the free principles of the Christian Connexion. A brief 
account of him may be found appended. 



16 



MEMOIR OF 



might be restored to his father's house." The 
request was heard and granted, by Him who 
" giveth strength to the faint," and once more 
he walked forth in the light of the Lord. He 
soon became acquainted with Elder Jones, con- 
versed freely with him in regard to his trials 
about preaching, and received from him much 
good counsel and encouragement. He then 
decided to join the church, and was received 
a member some time in 1809, when about 
twenty-three years of age. 

He now spoke and prayed in the social meet- 
ings, read the word of God, and meditated 
thereon day and night. But even now, at times, 
the thought of preaching so overcame him that 
he was much depressed in spirit. About this 
time he conceived a new plan of doing his 
duty, which was by proxy, and perhaps do it 
better than in any other way — that if God 
would send some other one better qualified, in 
his stead, he would give a large portion of his 
future earnings to support him in the work. 
And upon this plan he asked God to accept his 
offering and future service. But God did not 
see fit to call in a worm of the dust to sit in 
counsel with the Infinite Jehovah — or suffer 
man to make plans for God to act upon. 

After pondering these things over with deep 
anxiety of heart, and asking, but in vain, for 
light and evidence of his acceptance on this 
ground, his mind finally rested upon these 
words: "What is that to thee, follow thou 
me." These words of the Saviour pen- 
etrated his very soul — they at once demolished 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 17 



his air-built castle, and like Noah's dove, he 
found no resting place for the sole of his foot, 
but in returning to the ark of the Lord and giv- 
ing himself up anew to be directed and guided 
by Him. He found, indeed, that " it was not in 
man to direct his steps." 

He then asked only one evidence more, and 
that was, if some person, entirely unacquainted 
with his case should come to him, as Ananias 
went to Saul, and declare God's will to him 
concerning his duty in this thing, he would be- 
lieve that it was not a vision of his own, bat a 
call from God. This was so signally verified 
to his mind a few days after, that, like Moses, 
he exclaimed, u Lord, send by whom thou wilt 
send." It was but a few days after this, before 
the way opened for him to go forth and prove 
what the Lord would do for him, and through 
him,, while attempting to speak in his name. 

To some, these trials with regard to preach- 
ing will appear singular, but it should be re- 
membered that many eminent and useful 
preachers have passed through similar conflicts ; 
nor was our Lord himself wholly exempted 
therefrom, as his temptation in the wilderness 
abundantly proves. To those who enter the 
ministry more for a profession and livelihood, 
than from a sense of duty and as a call from 
God, these things will seem strange indeed; 
but it is written, " the natural man understandeth 
not the things of the Spirit, for they are foolish- 
ness unto him," but they are none the less real 
to him that is exercised thereby, on that account. 
Hear the language of Moses when God called 



18 MEMOIR OF 

him to go down into Egypt to deliver his peo- 
ple : " O Lord, who ami, that I should go unto 
Pharaoh, to bring forth the children of Israel 
out of Egypt ? O my Lord, I am not eloquent, 
neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken 
unto thy servant; but I am slow of speech, and 
of a slow tongue." And the Lord said unto 
him, "Who hath made man's mouth ? or who 
maketh the dumb, or the deaf, or the seeing, or 
the blind ? have not I, the Lord ? Now there- 
fore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach 
thee what thou shalt say." And he said, " O 
my Lord, send by the hand of him whom thou 
wilt send." Isaiah also exclaims, " I am a man 
of unclean lips " — and a live coal was laid up- 
on his mouth and made to touch his lips, that he 
might be purged and prepared for his work. 
The apostle Paul asks, " who is sufficient for 
these things ?" His answer is, " our sufficiency 
is of God ; who hath made us able ministers of 
the New Testament, not of the letter but of the 
spirit. I can do all things through Christ Jesus 
who strengthened me." 

Many, however, obey this call at once, and 
cheerfully, " thanking God that he hath count- 
ed them faithful, putting them into the ministry." 
This is right, inasmuch as " God loves the 
cheerful giver," and hath said — " To obey is 
better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the 
fat of rams." Yet, not a few, like our brother, 
think it must be they are mistaken, in regard to 
their impressions to preach, because they feel so 
unworthy and every way unqualified for it ; and 
hence, like Gideon of old, desire to have the 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 19 

fleece wet with the dews of heaven at one time, 
and dry at another, that they may be sure that 
God is in it, and they are not deceived. 

"We may know a man is called of God to 
preach, when his gift, his life and his labors lead 
men to fear, love and serve God — when his 
teaching interests and confirms minds in the 
truth — when they bear the fruits of the Spirit, 
turning men from sin to righteousness, as God 
said to the prophet, ,; if they had stood in my 
counsel and had caused the people to hear my 
words, then they should have turned them from 
their evil way and from the evil of their doings." 
When their preaching, like the apostle's, " turns 
men from darkness to light and from the power 
of Satan unto God," then we may know they 
are sent of God; for "by their fruits ye shall 
know them " — and by our fruit we may know 
ourselves to a great extent. 

This power to persuade, to instruct, to con- 
vince, to turn men to the right, is a power from 
God, a gift for the ministry of his word. " Those 
things that thou hast heard of me,", said Paul 
to Timothy, ;,/ commit thou to faithful men who 
shall be able to teach others also." The parable 
of the two unlike sons, Mat. 21 : 23, 34, shows 
how readily some engage to serve God, but do 
not fulfil their vows — and also how others who 
at first say I will not go, afterwards repent and 
obey. An aged minister said to me, " I never 
knew any one to come into the ministry more 
reluctantly than did Elder Taylor, but after he 
had, I never knew one who seemed to feel the 
responsibility of his calling more deeply." 



20 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER II. 

Commencement of preaching — Ordination — Marriage — A tes- 
timony of forty years' acquaintance. 

He now decided to make the experiment to 
ascertain if he could say or do anything for 
God's cause, and for this purpose he desired to 
go abroad into some neighborhood and hold 
meetings. The way was opened in the follow- 
ing manner. Elder John Rand, an excellent 
minister, then living in Essex, Mass., was on his 
way to visit the churches in the south part of the 
State, and preached in the evening with the 
brethren in Salem. During his discourse he 
stated that he had felt drawn to visit the breth- 
ren,^ as Paul said to Barnabas, " Let us go 
again and visit our brethren in every city where 
we have preached the word of the Lord, and 
see how they do," and that he intended going 
as far as New Bedford before his return. 

This struck Benjamin's mind favorably, and 
he resolved at once to accompany him, if he was 

* The early preachers among this people were literally 
and really missionaries, going from place to place, preach- 
ing the gospel of the grace of God. Although usually 
settled over some church, yet they did not, as now, confine 
their labors so much to one people ; but travelling about, 
broke new ground, gathering new churches and scattering 
new life among the people, seeking the lost she: p of the 
house of Israel. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 21 

willing. Elder Rand of course was pleased 
with this idea, and encouraged him in doing so ; 
they went on their way rejoicing. 

At the various appointments, after Elder 
Rand had closed his sermon, Benjamin followed 
in exhortation and prayer — a custom still con- 
tinued in many parts by this people, with great 
effect and usefulness. 

After spending some time in New Bedford 
and the adjoining towns, Elder Rand returned 
home, while Benjamin continued in those parts 
holding meetings, and " daily in every house 
ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ." 
At first they were meetings for exhortation and 
prayer, but soon he named a text and endeav- 
ored to address the people in the form of 
preaching. Thus, in a few weeks, he who went 
forth with so many misgivings, became decided 
in his duty, and the Saviour's "yoke," to him once 
so unwelcome, now became easy and his " bur- 
den light." 

To the schoolmen, this manner of beginning 
to preach may appear strange and unwise, but 
a moment's reflection will convince most minds 
that this, after all, is a very good way. It has 
this advantage, at least : in our becoming thor- 
oughly satisfied in our minds as to our calling, 
before we have spent the best part of life in pre- 
paring for what, after all, proves not to have 
been our duty. Besides, many of the most 
useful and sterling ministers in various denom- 
inations have begun in a similar way, and gone 
on from one degree of usefulness to another, 
until God has made them pillars in the church 



22 MEMOIR OF 

of Christ. Elder Rand himself had left the 
mechanic's bench, — like the apostles leaving 
their fishing boats, to go and preach the gos- 
pel of the Son of God — and had been greatly 
blessed in his work. 

In his first visit to Essex, some time before 
this, in company with a Brother Hays, a lay 
member, he had seen, in the short space of five 
weeks, more than a hundred souls converted to 
God. Elder Rand was then a member of the 
Boston Christian Church, and ordained among 
them in 1806, when their meetings were held in 
Friend street. Officiating Elders present were, 
Abner Jones, Elias Smith, and Joseph Boody. 
He was the first preacher ordained among this 
people ; the other three having been ordained 
among the Baptists before their separation.^ 

# The people called Christians or Christian Connexion, 
arose about the year 1800. They sprang- up in three 
distinct and remote parts of the United States, East, South 
and West, without any concert of action, or any knowledge 
of each other's doings. Those in the East came from the 
Baptists, those in the South from the Methodists, and those 
in the West from the Presbyterians. After some years, 
they became known to each other and found that they were 
essentially one people. Each had laid aside all names but 
that of Christian, all creeds but the Holy Scriptures, and 
all tests of fellowship -and communion, but a change of 
heart, holy life and Christian spirit ; and each w T as striving 
for primitive purity, apostolic order, and a godly life. 
Hence they found they were one, and thus was formed the 
Christian Connexion. God grant it may be a holy alli- 
ance, and a holy people, " whose God is the Lord." They 
have spread into all the States, Canadas, Provinces, and a 
few in England. " In 1844 they numbered 1500 preachers, 
500 licentiates, 325,000 communicants, 1,500 churches, and 
probably about 500,000 persons attend on their ministry." 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 23 

Brother Taylor went to New Bedford in 1809, 
and there, and in its vicinity, he may be said to 
have commenced preaching. The fields were 
white already to harvest. Elders Smith and 
Plumer had before this preached considerably in 
those parts and seen much fruit of their labors. 
A small church had been gathered in New Bed- 
ford as early as 1807 or 8, and many friends 
raised up, who were warmly interested in this 
new order of people. 

Elder Daniel Hix, of Dartmouth, an adjoin- 
ing town, was a regular Baptist preacher, and 
had embraced their views, together with his 
church, and had come out on these free princi- 
ples. He was a very sound, sensible man, 
though quite eccentric, but a powerful preacher, 
and consequently exerted a great influence over 
a wide section of country. He preached fre- 
quently with the church in New Bedford, as 
they were, up to this time, without any regular 
minister. But, on brother Taylor's coming 
among them, they were supplied with the minis- 
try of the word more constantly than they had 
ever been before. As a natural result, the 
church began to revive and grow. 

They had erected a small house for worship ; 
it was but partly finished ; for w^e hear of broth- 
er Taylor's standing on a carpenter's bench in 
the meeting house while preaching to the peo- 
ple. The brethren were now stirred up to 
the work of finishing their house. It was soon 
completed, paid for, and dedicated to the wor- 
ship of the one living and true G od and his Son 
Jesus Christ. This was one of the first meeting 



24 MEMOIR OF 

houses ever built in the Christian Connexion. 
It still stands where it was first located, consid- 
erably enlarged, and since called Elder How's 
meeting house, he being, a long time, Elder 
Taylor's successor. Brother Taylor now trav- 
elled and preached in various places, although 
his home was chiefly with the churches in New 
Bedford and Portsmouth, R. I. In those days 
our preachers, like the apostles, " went every- 
where preaching " the gospel of the grace of 
God. Often for weeks, and sometimes months, 
they held meetings day and night in different 
places, visiting and praying from house to 
house. 

We hear of his preaching in Dartmouth, 
Freetown, Troy, Taunton, Boston, Salem, and 
soon after in Swansey, Providence, Fall River, 
Westford, Middleboro', Longplain, Fair-Haven, 
Wareham, Rehoboth, Wellington, Mansfield, 
Dighton, &c. In New Bedford and Ports- 
mouth there was now some revival ; souls were 
converted and desired to be baptized, and it was 
therefore desirable that he should be ordained, 
so as properly to administer the ordinances of 
the church. 

An account of his ordination is here given, 
taken from the " Herald of Gospel Liberty," =& 
a religious paper then published by Elder Elias 
Smith, at Portsmouth, N. H. "At a general 
meeting held in Freetown, (Assonet,) Mass., 
June 15 and 18, 1811, Benjamin Taylor was 



# This was the first religious newspaper ever published. 
The first number was issued in 1808, 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 25 

ordained, at the close of a sermon, by Elder 
Abner Jones, on Sab. June 16. Text, ' More- 
over it is required in stewards that a man be 
found faithful,' 1 Cor. 4 : 1. Between 1500 and 
2000 persons were present. ' The following 
ministers assisted at the ordination and signed 
the certificate : Daniel Hix, Philip Hathaway, 
Douglas Farnum, Ira Philips, Ebenezer Easty, 
Zephaniah Crosman." 

In Elder Jones' diary we find the following : 

" In June, 1811, made my first visit to the south part of 
Mass. Attended a general meeting at Assonet ; preached 
the ordination sermon of Elder Benjamin Taylor, who was 
formerly a member of the Salem Church. A very great 
collection of people attended and it was a heavenly season. 
The Assonet church was large and flourishing and had a 
good meeting house. Elder Philip Hathaway, their 
preacher, was well engaged. They were formerly a Bap- 
tist Church, but had several years since left the Baptist 
name, and all creeds, and come over and joined the Chris- 
tian Connexion. It was at this meeting that I formed the 
first happy acquaintance with the venerable Elder Daniel 
Hix of Dartmouth, Mass., who had recently renounced all 
party names and united with us." 

We gather from various sources the following 
items : 

" Portsmouth, R. I., June 23, 1811. Elder Taylor 
baptized for the first time, a number of happy souls, in the 
sea where there was much water." 

" New Bedford, July 4th, 1811. Elder Benjamin Tay- 
lor baptized three happy converts, and the same day they 
were added unto the Church." 

" Nov. 22. Elder Taylor made a request, and the Church 
agreed to the same, that there should be a communion on 
the next Sabbath." 



26 MEMOIR OF 

The churches at this time not having regular 
preaching, could not of course have regu- 
lar and stated observances of the ordinances ; 
but this, together with the ministry, in process 
of time, became more regular and permanent ; 
so that now the Lord's Supper is generally at- 
tended on the first Sabbath in each month. 
This also is very generally the case among the 
various denominations in New England. 

The folio Aving from the New Bedford records 
show the form things had taken for a time 
previous to this — 

" Brother O. K. was chosen Treasurer of the Church, 
to receive whatever sums of money there might be collect- 
ed, from time to time, by contributions for relieving the 
wants of the public brethren, and to hand it out to them 
whenever he thought necessary ; and that he should take 
advice from any one or more of the members of the Church 
on this subject, when he thought advice needful. ,, 

But a more definite engagement w T as entered 
into the following spring, between the Church 
and Elder Taylor. 

" New Bedford, May 29, 1812. In Church Meeting — 
Elder Taylor now agreed to labor with them in word and 
doctrine as their preacher, as long as he felt the love of 
Christ constraining him ; and the Church engaged to receive 
him as its pastor, and to do all they could for his support, 
as long as mutual agreement existed between them." 

He next expressed a wish to be received a 
member of the Church, and for this purpose 
handed in the following letter, from the Church 
in Salem : 

" This certifies that Brother Benjamin Taylor is in good 
standing in this Church, and is hereby recommended to the 
faithful in Christ Jesus our Lord throughout these regions, 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 27 

and also we consider him one called of God to preach the 

gospel, his labors having been abundantly blessed in these 

parts. 

Signed, in behalf of the Christian Church in Salem, this 

13th day of May, 1812. 

John Mea^sury, 
Joseph Sibley, 
John Bordon." 

At the same Church meeting, it is recorded — 

11 Elder Daniel Hix and Benjamin Taylor then proceeded 
to ordain Bro. J. Hammond to the office of Deacon. " 

The following is a copy of a letter written to 
Elder Mark Fernald of Kittery, Me., dated 
" Salem, April 29, 1813: 



Benjamin Taylor, Servant: To Mark Fernald, Ser- 
vant, Brother-Laborer and Minister in Christ Je- 
sus our Lord. Greeting : 

• Thy favor of the 26th inst. was duly received, and I 
hasten to answer it. The first part of your letter express- 
ed a desire to have it answered by seeing me face to face. 
I need not repeat the same words over to you in turn, al- 
though I desire the same and will therefore add my Amen. 
You also mention that you hope to see me in the course of 
the summer ; this gives me a gleem of hope that you feel 
it duty to visit the south country. I would to the Lord that 
you might, by the command of the God of Jacob, take up 
your horse and come over to New Bedford, as the apostles 
"took up their carriages and went to Jerusalem." Acts 
21 : 15. I think it may be truly said, the plants want wa- 
tering. The question may be asked, why do you not water 
them? I answer, there are seven churches or companies 
that depend upon Daniel Hix the aged, and Benjamin the 
servant, for baptizing, breaking bread, and preaching the 
word. Daniel has been preaching 33 years. His vessel 
therefore will not conveniently carry water so far as it used 
to, and Benjamin's is very small ; so that when he sets out 
with his watering pot full, he is most likely to have it all 



28 MEMOIR OF 

drained off, by some good brethren by the way. Thus 
many of the tender plants are near to perishing from 
drought. Do, my brother, if you can think it duty, make 
us a visit. Be sure and write often. 

The above is just as I feel. O how I want to see you 
and converse on some points in the Scriptures. Farewell. 
Pray for me. 

Mark Fernald. Benj. Taylor." 

A short time previous to this he became ac- 
quainted with Mrs. Mary, widow of Captain 
Elisha C. Rodman, of Newport, R. I. She was 
an esteemed member of a Free Baptist Church 
in that place, of which Elder Michael Eddy 
was pastor. After a pleasant acquaintance of 
some length of time, they were married July 
13, 1812. 

They were soon settled in New Bedford, and 
things moved on pleasantly, the church increas- 
ed in numbers and Christian graces. In looking 
over their church records, for the ensuing seven 
years, we find frequent baptisms and additions 
to the church. 

God indeed was in their midst. Elder Tay- 
lor was now much devoted to his work, and 
strove with all his power to build up the church 
in faith, holiness and truth. So zealous was he 
for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, 
that during the week, days and evenings, he was 
abroad in various parts holding meetings, and 
often going from house to house conversing and 
praying with the people, and instructing them 
in the things of the kingdom. By a godly walk 
and chaste conversation, "he commended him- 
self to every man's conscience as in the sight of 
God." 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 29 

Still he had trials and difficulties to contend 
with. There were false brethren, uneasy mem- 
bers, who were never satisfied with reasonable 
things, and who must be on the wing of excite- 
ment or down by the streams of Babylon, with 
their harps upon the willows. Beside, this peo- 
ple were then much spoken against, which caus- 
ed the weak to fall away, and to go no more 
with them. 

But we are told that he was very diligent in 
looking after each member, and very thorough 
in church discipline, not suffering an absent, of- 
fended or fallen brother to go long without be- 
ing soLi^ht after and entreated to return and 
continue in well doing. 

About this time the threatened war between 
England and the United States ^reatlv alarmed 
the inhabitants along the sea coast. In the town 
of New Bedford, which, in the war of the Rev- 
olution, was set on fire, they now expected seri- 
ous calamities. A false alarm one night so 
terrified the people that many families, the next 
day, moved several miles into the country. El- 
der Taylor removed his family to Steepbrook, 
(Troy,) a small village on the Taunton River, 
thirteen miles distant. Here they remained un- 
til peace was restored in 1S15 ; but Elder Taylor 
was not absent from his people more than two 
weeks at any one time. 

He preached the gospel now in troublous 
times — the gospel of peace in a time of war. 
He was, however, always, from the first to the 
last, a minister of peace ; he did not believe in 
war, or that it was right for Christians to fight. 



30 



MEMOIR OF 



Hence, while many were both in fear and rage, 
he was calm, going about doing good — praying 
for his enemies, and beseeching God in mercy 
to dispose the hearts of men to peace and con- 
cord ; and to speed on the day when men, as 
well as angels, should sing, " Glory to God in the 
highest^ on earth, peace and good anil to men." 

The words of Isaiah, " He shall judge among 
the nations, and rebuke many people : and they 
shall beat their swords into plough-shares and 
their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall 
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall 
they learn war any more," were very precious 
to him, and he firmly believed they would yet 
be fulfilled. 

It was often the case that one minister took 
the oversight of two or three congregations, 
and sometimes more, visiting and preaching 
with them alternately. This at that time was 
the more necessary, because there were more 
churches than ministers, and the destitute must 
be attended to or they would soon languish and 
die. Beside, one church could but poorly sup- 
port a preacher alone. Elder Taylor, therefore, 
travelled abroad more or less, and ministered to 
the people in New Bedford, Steepbrook and 
Portsmouth. He was also called to spend much 
time in church-meetings in various places, in 
advising, and not unfrequently settling difficul- 
ties. For the latter, especially, he was always 
regarded as being of great service to the 
churches. Few men could do for them what 
he could ; he was himself so humble, patient, 
and sympathizing, that unreconciled members 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 31 

must be drawn together in love and peace 
when his bland spirit breathed in tenderness 
upon their hearts. He seemed among his peo- 
ple like a faithful shepherd watching his flock, a 
kind father guiding his children. He could al- 
ways say with the apostle, " Ye know from the 
first day I came unto you, after what manner I 
have been with you at all seasons, serving the 
Lord with all humility of mind and with many 
tears : and how I kept back nothing that was 
profitable unto you — but have showed you 
and have taught you publicly and from house 
to house — testifying both to J ews and Greeks, 
repentance towards God and faith towards our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

He was also called to attend very many 
funerals far and near. Sometimes he would be 
called thirty miles distant, and although seldom 
paid his actual expenses in travelling, yet he al- 
ways went at every call, unless sickness prevent- 
ed, sympathizing with the alllicted, entering into 
their sorrows and pointing them to Him who 
came down from heaven " to bind up the broken 
hearted, and to comfort all that mourn." 

After peace was restored between England 
and the United States, he removed his family 
back to New Bedford and continued his minis- 
try with the people there for some years. Hav- 
ing formed an interesting acquaintance with the 
people at Steepbrook, and seen the glory of 
God in the salvation of souls, it was natural 
that he should continue to visit and preach with 
them as he had opportunity. 

It is said that he frequently preached here in 



32 MEMOIR OF 

the evening, and then walked home to New 
Bedford the same night, a distance of thirteen 
miles. Why he did so, or what the occasion of 
such extreme exertion and exposure might have 
been, we know not. Persons under ordinary 
circumstances doing thus, would, we think, be 
exceedingly unwise ; inasmuch as we are not 
lightly to throw away, or even endanger, the 
health and strength which God has given us for 
great and wise purposes. 

During the winter he resided at Steepbrook, 
he taught school, in connection with his minis- 
terial labors. He was also blessed with a very 
precious revival of religion in this place, and 
organized a branch church,^ which for years 
after was like Joseph's bough, " whose branch- 
es run over the wall." He labored incessantly, 
both with his hands and mind. Circumstances 
being such, he was obliged to labor some part 
of the time for his support, and with the apostle 
he could say, " Yea, these hands have ministered 
unto my necessities and to them that were with 
me." At one time he might be seen at work 
on the farm a part of the day, and then away 
to his appointment in the afternoon ; at another, 
teaching school in the day-time, and preaching 
in the evening ; and at another^ working at 
bellows-making and then blowing the gospel 
trumpet far and near. It might be said of him, 
as was said to Elder Daniel Hicks : " Sir, I 
wonder you can preach so well when you work 



# A branch of the New Bedford Church probably, or 
one still nearer. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 33 

so hard." To which he replied, " a clock 
keeps the better time for having good weights." 
As late as June, 1849, in conversation with a 
humble, intelligent member of the New Bedford 
Church, one of its earliest members, he stated 
to me in substance, the following : 

" Yes I remember Elder Taylor and his ministry here 
perfectly well ; many of the best and most substantial mem- 
bers we ever had, were gathered in at and about the time of 
his being with us. He always maintained a very excellent 
character and a consistent Christian carriage among the 
people." Said he, " the preaching of Elias Smith had 
tended to disincline the people to give much for religious 
purposes, preaching as he did against salaries and a hire- 
ling ministry, a thing which the people here never needed 
much warning against; as we have always been inclined to 
give too little for God and his cause — which state of things 
made it the more difficult for Elder Taylor to get along in 
pecuniary matters. Still, although he always received very 
much less support in those days than he ought to have had, 
yet I never heard him complain, nor saw him falter, or 
give back in the least, on that account. Where we now 
raise eight and ten hundred dollars a year for our minister, 
then we never thought to raise scarcely three hundred ; 
and yet it cost, in many things, as much, and in some more, 
to live then, than now. However, I think we give none 
too much now, but gave a great deal too little then. While 
Elder Taylor was not weighed down nor discouraged on 
account of the w r ant of a proper support, still he was often 
very much depressed on account of the ills and wrongs, 
sins and short-comings of the people in other respects ; 
so much so at times as to be led into great depths of sor- 
row and continual heaviness of soul. The language 
of the prophet seemed literally true in his case, when he 
says, ' O that my head were waters and mine eyes a 
fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the 
slain of the daughter of my people ! Oh that 1 had in the 
wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men, that I might 
leave my people and go from them, * ## they are not valiant 
for the truth upon the earth ; they proceed from evil to 



34 



MEMOIR OF 



evil and they know not me, saith the Lord.' At one time 
I remember there came along a minister who preached with 
us some time, and for whom Elder Taylor seemed to feel a 
great interest, and sought to help him in every way which 
lay in his power. But to his great surprise and mortifica- 
tion he found him one day drunk in the street. He burst 
into a flood of tears and endeavored for a time to reclaim 
him, but without effect ; whereupon he exercised the pain- 
ful duty of openly withdrawing fellowship from him. # 

This, together with other trials, gave him such downcast 
feelings for days, as to make him almost sick. At the 
same time he would bear up under another class of diffi- 
culties with unusual fortitude and strength. His preaching 
was always fervent and instructive. He seemed always 
blessed with the increase of God. His heart was so filled 
with love and spiritual life that no one, I think, could listen 
to him any length of time without being benefited. His 
preaching was not only good and edifying, but his influence 
from the first to the last, wherever he has been, so far as I 
know, and I have known him for almost forty years, has 
been in the highest degree salutary and serviceable to the 
cause of Christ. He is a man of blessed memory, and the 
voice of the Spirit is true of him : ' Blessed are the dead 
which die in the Lord ; # ** yea, saith the Spirit, that they 
may rest from their labors ; and their works do follow 
them.' " 

* It should be recollected here that this people then were 
just springing into life, and unacquainted with each other 
to a great extent, which left them liable to be imposed upon 
by false brethren. This, to my mind, however, is but a 
small evil to what it would be to reject and persecute a true 
disciple of Christ, in consequence of narrowness and bigot- 
ry. The truly benevolent man will be far more likely to 
be imposed upon by false beggars, than the covetous and 
miserly person. Yet who, on that account, would think it 
wrong or unfortunate to be benevolent? So in religious 
freedom and charity. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 35 



CHAPTER III. 

Study — Difficulties — Improvement — Duty of Ministers to im- 
prove all their powers— Plain preaching. 

From the time of Elder Taylor's conversion, 
if Ave except a short period, he had been a dili- 
gent student of the holy scriptures. His Bible, 
dictionary and concordance were his constant 
companions ; and although his learning and 
qualifications for the ministry, in one respect, 
were limited, yet in another they were very 
considerable. Even at the commencement of 
his preaching there was a rich vein of holy 
thought, good sense, burning zeal for the glory 
of God, which gave power and life to the whole 
of his message. But added to this he always 
had a certain aptness to teach in holy things — to 
illustrate spiritual things by natural, the scrip- 
tures by human experience and natural history. 
He also soon became well versed in sacred his- 
tory, especially that of the scriptures. After he 
had been preaching a few years, he seemed to 
be as conversant with the whole history of Bible 
scenes as the traveller is with the regions he has 
visited. The principal themes in the scriptures, 
with the great doctrines of revealed truth, 
together with the proof texts of each, were 
made, by care and study, so familiar to his 
mind, as to lead one to suppose he had the en- 



36 MEMOIR OF 

tire Bible almost committed to memory. Thus 
on the subjects of a Change of Heart, Forgive- 
ness of Sins, Prayer, Baptism, the Lord's Sup- 
per, Justification, Sanctification, Election, the 
Resurrection, Judgment to come, &c, with 
many others, were so carefully arranged and 
committed to memory, as to be easily referred 
to on any occasion. 

To give the reader an idea of this excellent 
plan, we give the following, taken from a little 
text book of his : 

" Who shall I own as brethren in Christ ?" 

" Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in 
heaven, the same is my brother, sister and mother. " Mat. 
12 : 50. 

"lama companion of all them that fear thee, and of 
them that keep thy commandments." Ps. 119 : 63. 

" Of a trnth I perceive that God is no respecter of per- 
sons, but in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh 
righteousness is accepted with him." Acts 10 : 35. 

" For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but 
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost ; for he 
that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and 
approved of men." Romans 14: 17, 18. 

Being naturally of quick and rapid utterance, 
and having large portions of the scriptures com- 
mitted to memory, his preaching seemed like a 
shower of rain pouring in torrents upon the 
earth. Elder Jones once said of his early 
speaking, " that his exhortations were like a 
shower of stones.' 5 At onetime he resolved on 
breaking himself of so rapid speech, and for 
this purpose put gravel stones in his mouth, and 
exercised his vocal organs in this way. But 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 37 

this became so painful that in a little time he 
abandoned it. As he grew older, however, he 
overcame this, more and more, until this very 
faculty was so subdued as to become a powerful 
auxiliary in preaching. 

To me all this reveals a noble and excellent 
trait of character in a minister of Christ — en- 
deavoring to improve all the powers Avith which 
his Maker has endowed him, to the honor and 
glory of God ; being neither easily discouraged 
at difficulties nor puffed up at success, or over- 
estimating his gifts, " but to think soberly accord- 
ing as God has dealt to every man the measure 
of faith." It is as proper for a minister to 
endeavor to improve his power of speech, 
as it is for him to to learn to read and write. 
Yea, it is his duty consecrate his best affec- 
tions and powers to God and his service. Min- 
isters of religion, as well as the navigators of 
the sea, the artisan or the statesman, should 
subject their faculties to the highest and best 
cultivation for then calling, remembering, how- 
ever, that an humble, meek and Christ-like 
spirit is the highest of all human attainments ; 
and that true religious culture is the improve- 
ment of the heart as well as of the intellect. 
The earnest and effective minister is a man of 
no common gifts, either of nature or of grace, 
and of no ordinary cultivation of intellect and 
heart. He is one whose moral powers are 
stirred from the depths of his soul — whose 
heartburns with the quenchless fires of divine 
love and goodness, and whose entire being is 
consecrated to the mighty work of subjecting 
4 



38 



MEMOIR OF 



the world to the spirit and cross of Christ. To 
be such, he must be taught by the great Teacher, 
he must be made wise with heavenly wisdom, 
and be clad with an unseen armor of strength ; 
his soul must yearn for the salvation of men, 
while the presence of an awful responsibility 
will lead him to exclaim with the apostle, 
" Woe is me if I preach not the gospel." With- 
out feelings and qualifications answering to 
these, however great his attainments in human 
learning, his eloquence as an orator, or his ar- 
guments as a logician, he will come infinitely 
short of accomplishing the great work for which 
the ministry was ordained and the everlasting 
gospel to be preached ; but with these, though 
wanting many others, the hearts of men will 
be touched, the enemies of the cross be slain, 
and the power of God be manifest, while souls 
will be " added unto the church daily of such 
as shall be saved." Says an eminent divine, " a 
minister who is listened to with interest, even 
when he has marked defects as a speaker, is in 
much fairer prospects of usefulness, than many 
a brilliant orator, whom a congregation hear at 
first with rapture, and then grow cold towards." 
Many ministers, it is to be feared, fail of ac- 
complishing much good, in consequence of not 
having any distinct and important end in view 
when preaching, or in conversation with their 
hearers. With not a few it seems to be a mere 
pastime, or a desire to please the fancy without 
benefiting the heart. Said an eminent divine, 
" let me purpose before I begin to prepare my 
sermon, some definite end, object and impres- 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 39 

sion to be made on the hearts of my hearers, 
and keep this steadily in view to the close, ex- 
pecting above all God's blessing to give the 
word success." 

Many are not plain and pointed enough in 
their preaching, while others are too harsh, 
over-bearing and condemnatory. Ministers are 
not sent into the world as inquisitors, judges, 
or executioners ; nor yet as sycophants and 
men-pleasers, but as " ambassadors for Christ," 
with a most weighty, solemn and joyful mes- 
sage ; — a message not from one government 
on earth to another, or from one king to another, 
but a message from the God of heaven to the 
inhabitants of the earth, " Hear O heavens, and 
give ear O earth, for the Lord hath spoken." 

Men need solemn and stern warnings, as well 
as soft and winning invitations, to bring them to 
Christ. God, who made man's heart, knows 
best what will reach and subdue that heart to 
the cross — and He says, " Son of man, thou 
shalt hear the word at my mouth and give them 
warning from me." " The soul that "sinneth it 
shall die." Even the blessed Saviour, who spake 
as never man spake, gave the most solemn and 
fearful warnings, as well as the most glorious 
and melting truths and promises. 

The minister of the gospel, then, ought to feel 
that he is dispensing the truths of a religion re- 
vealed by God himself amid the thunderings 
and lightnings of Sinai, as well as the love and 
mercy of Caivary. A religion sanctioned by a 
long line of prophets, apostles and martyrs, with 
miracles and mighty works, all sealed by the 



40 MEMOIR OF 

precious blood of the immaculate Son of God. 
They ought to remember, too. that he who died 
for men, taught them the fear of a future hell, 
as well as the hope of a future heaven, and 
opened before then: eyes the dang°rs of the 
broad way to destruction, as well as the strait 
gate that leadeth unto everlasting life. These 
two great truths, like the centrifugal and cen- 
tripetal forces which keep the planets in their or- 
bits, must be brought to bear upon the hearts 
and consciences of men, in order to lead them 
to repentance, and also to keep them in the path 
of life. Thus hope and fear, like sunshine and 
rain, cold and heat, must unite in causing the 
seed of divine truth to germinate and grow, 
and to bring forth fruit unto the glory of God. 

Right preaching, therefore, requires that the 
whole counsel of God should be plainly stated, 
and the truths ol God's word presented to the 
mind in their true proportion, giving to each 
their portion in due season — and all this bap- 
tized with the love and compassion of a crucified 
Redeemer. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 41 



CHAPTER IV. 

Preaching in Taunton — Providence — Removal to Swansey — 
Two Baptist Churches, 

In the early part of his ministry, Elder Tay- 
lor visited and preached in Taunton, and Whit- 
tenden, a small village near by. A church was 
formed in the latter place, to which he often 
preached and administered the ordinances. In 
Taunton, he was often invited to preach in the 
Baptist Church, where he always found a hearty 
welcome and met a large assembly of people. 
It is believed that there never was a minister in 
Taunton so universally beloved, and whom so 
many flocked to hear, as Benjamin Taylor. 
And why this is mentioned and thought some- 
what remarkable, is that it continued for many 
years, and even to the last of his 'preaching. 
Many draw a multitude after them for a time, 
and impress the people with their power and reli- 
gious life for a season, but this continued for al- 
most forty years. It was not thus, however, in 
every place where he preached. Even the 
prophets and apostles themselves had more 
honor and success in some places than in others. 
Hence our Lord said, " A prophet is not with- 
out honor save in his own country." 

I find an account of his baptizing in Taunton 
as early as August, 1815. Also in Wellington, 



42 MEMOIR OF 

now North Dighton, about the same time. In 
one of his memorandum books, I find the names 
of about seventy persons that he baptized, in 
Taunton and Whittenden village, from 1815 to 
1823, and some twenty-five names of those 
baptized in North Dighton. 

In Providence, R. I., he also visited and 
preached with some success. A church was 
organized here as early as 1812 or '13, and he, 
with others, ministered to them occasionally, as 
circumstances would allow. In 1819, when 
about to remove from New Bedford, he was 
very strongly urged by brethren to come to 
Providence and labor with them. He took it 
into deep consideration ; but a larger field of 
more immediate usefulness opening in Swansey 
Mass., midway between Providence and New 
Bedford, where he had for years preached oc- 
casionally in private houses and school-rooms, 
he felt more drawn in spirit to the latter 
place. 

However, there were difficulties attending 
this which were peculiar. The people in Swan- 
sey, with whom he was desired to labor, were 
Baptists. And although he felt no difficulty on 
his own part, in consequence of this, yet he 
feared that on their part there might unpleasant 
things arise on accomit of his being of a differ- 
ent denomination, which might in some way in- 
jure the cause and prevent much good being 
done. He visited and preached with them a 
number of times, and plainly stated his views 
and feelings, his anxieties and fears ; but they 
continued to entreat him, with the Macedonian 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 43 

cry, " come over and help us," till he was 
much inclined to believe it was duty to go. He 
did not fully decide to go, however, until on two 
brethren coming from Swansey to New Bed- 
ford, with the request from the church that he 
would come to their aid — with an assurance 
that the aged pastor (Elder Philip Slade, who, 
although unable to preach much, was still with 
them,) also united in this request, whereupon he 
gave them encouragement, " if the Lord will " he 
would soon come to their aid. An effectual 
door was now opened, and he felt called upon 
from above to enter it. He now made known 
to the New Bedford church what he believed to 
be the will of God in this matter. The church, 
on learning this, took immediate measures to 
express their strong desire that he would remain 
with them. A church-meeting was called and 
a committee chosen for this purpose. Elder 
Harvey Sullings, then an active member of the 
church, since a useful and respected minister of 
Christ, was chosen one of that committee, and 
writes me as follows : 

" When the church learned of Br. Taylor's intention to 
leave, we were much afflicted on that account. The com- 
mittee chosen to visit him, and to endeavor to persuade him 
to remain, waited on him early in the evening and continued 
their entreaties till late at night, but all to no purpose. He 
felt it duty to go, and like the apostle, he must obey God 
rather than men. Go he must, and go he did." 

We might here add, however, that while no 
one could be more ready and willing to please 
his friends, to gratify his brethren at all times, 
than was Elder Taylor, still when it came to 



44 MEMOIR OF 

pass that friends and brethren called in one 
way and God in another, he always, with the 
promptness of a confiding faith, turned trusting- 
ly to his Heavenly Father as the great determiner 
of his future course and duty. Like the mar- 
iner's compass, whose needle, true to the mag- 
net, over and above the winds and waves, 
turns, though sometimes tremblingly, yet faith- 
fully and steadily, to the poles, so is it with 
the heart touched by divine grace, drawn by 
the attractions of the cross. He now, therefore, 
decided fully on going to Swansey, and very 
soon after commenced his labors permanently in 
that place. 

In Swansey were two Baptist churches situated 
about two miles apart, called the upper and 
lower churches. The upper church was Cal- 
vinist Baptist, the lower Six Principle Baptists. 
It was with the latter that Elder Taylor was 
called to labor. ^ Very soon after he had en- 

# Six Principle Baptists are so called from their holding 
very strongly to six principles written in Heb. 6 : 1,2. 
" Repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, the res- 
urrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." All of their 
members are received into the church by laying on of hands 
(like confirmation in the Episcopal church), after their bap- 
tism, and before coming to the communion. They were 
called Six Principle Baptists first by others, perhaps out of 
derision, like the Methodists, till they adopted it themselves. 
They are chiefly confined to Rhode Island and its immediate 
vicinity, being descendants from Roger Williams, who was 
the first Baptist in America — and one of the greatest re- 
formers of his age, — and who, being banished from Ply- 
mouth colony and from Mass., fled among the Narraganset 
tribe of Indians, where he planted a colony, composed of 
12 persons and called it Providence, inasmuch as the good 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 45 

tered upon his labors here, the upper church, be- 
ing at the time without a pastor, desired him to 
preach a part of the time with them. It is said 
that some of the brethren told him "that they 
had had the doctrine of election preached to 
them until the meeting house was empty, and 
that now they should like to try some other 
preaching, and see if it could not be filled." 
As Elder Philip Slade, the senior pastor of the 
lower church, was still able to preach in the 
morning, it was thought Elder Taylor might be 
spared to preach at the upper church mornings, 
and return and fill his appointments at the lower 
church in the afternoon. It was accordingly 
agreed upon, and thus began a plan of gospel 
labor which, under God, resulted in great good 
to both congregations. 

Elder Taylor closed his labors in New Bed- 
ford, not because he could do no more good 
there, but because he thought he could do more 
elsewhere. The new field of labor opening 
before him promised an abundant harvest. He 
could already hear the Master saying, " thrust 
in the sickle and reap, for the harvest of the 
earth is ripe — and say not there are yet four 
months and then cometh harvest ; behold I say 



providence of God had. brought him safely there. That 
colony is now the city of Providence, R. I. He founded 
there the first Baptist church in this country, in 1632, but 
that church has since become associated with the Calvinist 
Baptists. The Six Principle Baptists are not Calvinists, 
but Freewill in this respect. In 1821 they had about 20 
churches and 1500 communicants. We are told that since 
that time they have rather diminished than increased- 



46 MEMOIR OF 

unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the 
fields, for they are white already to harvest. 
And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gath- 
ereth fruit unto life eternal ; that both he that 
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice togeth- 
er." And as we pursue the course of his labors, 
we shall see how true also is the language of 
the Psalmist : " They that sow in tears shall reap 
in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bear- 
ing precious seed, shall doubtless come again 
"with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." 

The following entry is copied from the church 
records : 

" Sept. 4, 1819. Elder Benjamin Taylor having left 
this place and taken up his residence in Swansey. Mass., 
the following letter was given him by a vote of the church : 

' This Certifies, That Elder Benj. Taylor hath for the 
most of the time during the last seven years, labored in 
word and doctrine with the church and congregation estab- 
lished in this place, under the denomination of the Christian 
Society, and hath during the whole of said period of time 
sustained an unblemished character both in his public and 
private vocations, regulating his life according to the duties 
of a minister of the everlasting gospel. Feeling it now to 
be his duty to labor in other parts, this church, of 
which he is an esteemed member, would hereby express 
their love, confidence and fellowship for him, as a faithful 
minister and servant of Jesus Christ. 

Given in behalf of the Christian Church in New Bed- 
ford. John Hammond, 

Abram Giffory, 
Signed, Wm. Clark, 

John Perkins, 
Thomas Mandell." 

We will close this chapter, with a short ex- 
tract from Elder H. Sullings, on this subject : 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 47 

1 ' The Christian Church in New Bedford was organized 
in 1807 or "8. Elder Benjamin Taylor came to this place 
in company with Elder John Rand, in 1809, and continued 
with us until going to Swansey in 1819, with the exception of 
travelling considerably during the time During his minis- 
try with us, which was about ten years, there were added 
to the church 76 members, 44 of whom he baptized."* 

Elder Sullings further says : 

" 1 was intimately acquainted and associated with Brother 
Taylor, in the church, in the ministry, in prosperity and in 
adversity, and from the first to the last, which was a term 
of nearly forty years. I always esteemed him as one of the 
best of men, an excellent Christian and a good preacher. In 
his death the church have met with a great loss, which I 
fear will not soon be made up." 

* It is proper to remark here, that during this time he 
travelled and preached in other parts, and saw many more 
conversions, aided in organizing a number of churches, and 
baptized many believers. 



48 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER V. 

Labors in Swansey continupd — Revival of two y^ars — Many 
baptized — His support — Friendfy intercourse with others — Vis- 
iting the sick— -How to find Christ. 

Elder Taylor had been in Swansey a short 
time only, when some of the people hearing that 
his preaching was heretical, and that he was 
unsound in the faith, and being too ready to lis- 
ten to evil speaking, became alarmed about his 
ministry and much disturbed at these tidings. 
These reports, of course, awakened the fears of 
the aged pastor, and for a time things looked 
very ominous. 

Elder Taylor being of a pacific spirit, and 
one of the last persons who would go into a 
place to make disturbance, or even to encoun- 
ter for any length of time a formidable opposi- 
tion of this character, was minded peaceably to 
withdraw. Especially, when, as he thought 
he saw the appearance of a division among the 
people, at least in feeling. But he soon found 
that the majority of the people were entirely in 
his favor and utterly opposed to his leaving. 
Besides, a deep seriousness had already begun 
to be felt in the minds of the people, while 
many more believed he had a great work to do 
in that place, and that no small thing should 
prevent his doing it. * 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 49 

After much anxiety and fervent prayer on his 
part, and many entreaties from brethren, his 
mind finally opened upon one path of duty 
which he might pursue with safety, and that 
was to endeavor to go straight forward in 
preaching the word, and " know nothing among 
them save Jesus Christ and him crucified." 
And further, to have nothing to say hi the pulpit 
or in private, of these unpleasant affairs, but 
by holy living and well doing, put to silence the 
ignorance of foolish men — believing that God 
could in his own way turn victory on Zion's 
side, and " make even the wrath of man to 
praise Him." 

Upon this view of things, he was enabled to 
settle down with a good degree of calmness 
and " commit all his ways unto the Lord." He 
then prayed, if he had decided rightly, that he 
might see some token for good ; whereupon 
the next Sabbath, a number of souls were hope- 
fully converted to God, and rejoicing was heard 
in Zion. 

From that time, things began to wear a more 
encouraging appearance ; the power of God 
stopped the opposing influences and hushed the 
turbulent waves of passion, and the Spirit of God 
in a deep and solemn manner moved upon the 
hearts of the people. 

In January, 1820, Elder Taylor was chosen 
to take the full charge and oversight of the 
church. At a subsequent meeting, Feb. 10, 
1820, the church adopted the following among 
other resolutions : 



50 MEMOIR OF 

" This church this day declares itself independent and 
tree, and desires that the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Head 
of the church, would be their leader and Saviour, and the 
Holy Scriptures the rule to govern their faith and practice 
by, and to receive their doctrine from." 

It had been the usage of this church from the 
first, on receiving a pastor and teacher to its 
ministry, to extend to him through one of its 
deacons, the right hand of fellowship. In April, 
1820, Elder Taylor was received a member of 
the church, and the Sabbath fellowing, in the 
presence of the congregation, he received from 
Deacon Mason Gardner the right hand of fel- 
lowship, as the proper pastor of that church. 

At the commencement of Elder Taylor's la- 
bors, in the autumn of 1819, there were 257 
members of the church, and in April succeeding 
we find the number 298. All this time there 
had been an increasing interest in religion 
going forward, in both the upper and lower 
churches ; and although there were some who 
were opposed to, and others felt unpleasant at, 
the new order of things springing up in their 
midst, still so patient and mild was Elder Tay- 
lor, so discreet and so persevering in his duty, 
that the work of God continued to go forward 
in the midst of it all. The secret of it w r as, 
" God was with him," and because of this " he 
was not troubled at what man should do unto 
him." 

As he commenced, so he continued, not tak- 
ing sides with any party feeling, but watching 
diligently to be found " on the Lord's side." 
He had learned the heavenly art of " overcoming 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 51 

evil with good," and of " doing good for evil," 
a lesson which too many are slow to learn 
and others slower still to practise. So fixed and 
bent was his mind on doing his Heavenly 
Father's will,that he was not disposed to leave his 
high and holy work for a moment, to come down 
upon the plains of Ono to contend for things 
of small account. Like Nehemiah of old, he 
felt that he was " doing a great work, and why 
should the work cease while he came down unto 
them ?" The plains of Ono were no place for 
him, but upon the walls of Jerusalem, even in 
the high tower, was his place of safety, as it 
was of usefulness. He was not known, through- 
out the whole time, and during all that was said, 
to give in return an unkind word, or in any way 
to irritate, but rather sought to conciliate and to 
heal. Let what would be said, he never 
attempted a rejoinder, but by rising above those 
things, in spirit and in conversation, continued to 
direct the minds of the people " to the Lamb of 
God which taketh away the sins of the world." 

This course of faithful labor, of patient con- 
tinuance in well doing, was soon attended with 
a blessing from above. " The sound of agoing 
in the tops of the mulberry trees" was heard, 
and God's people began to bestir themselves and 
" come up to the help of the Lord," while God 
himself " wrought with them in Israel." 

While some still opposed this new light 
preaching, as it was called, God, on the other 
hand, blessed his own truth to the salvation of 
those that believed, and a glorious revival soon 
followed. 



52 MEMOIR OF 

An account of one Sabbath during this re- 
vival is here given. Elder Taylor preached in 
the morning and baptized twelve persons at the 
upper church, and then, with his baptizing dress 
on and still wet, rode three miles to the lower 
church, where the people were assembled and 
waiting for another baptism. Here he immersed 
eighteen more, changed his dress, took some re- 
freshment, and repaired to the church, w 7 here it 
is said, he preached a most powerful and affect- 
ing discourse to a solemn and attentive congre- 
gation. He was in his element and never in 
better health and spirits. 

During this reformation he labored very ardu- 
ously, and sought in all w^ays in his power to 
lead souls to Christ. At the close of the servi- 
ces, he might be seen going from pew to pew, 
conversing with serious minds, and kneeling 
with them, and earnest in prayer for their con- 
version. He was known to pray from three to 
fifteen times after meeting with different persons, 
deeply anxious for then souls' salvation. He 
was a shepherd seeking the lost sheep and lead- 
ing them back to the fold of Christ. 

One evening, while thus engaged, he found 
two young persons together, one of whom was 
deeply affected, while the other was heard in 
spirit and disposed to make light of these things. 
After a moment's conversation, in which he 
learned the state of mind of each, he knelt and 
prayed fervently for them, when to his surprise, 
as well as joy, he saw them both alike yield 
humbly to the Lord Jesus Christ. " Is not my 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, 53 

word like as a fire ? saith the Lord ; and like a 
hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ?" 

This revival continued for nearly two years. 
The converts were humble, devoted, and stead- 
fast, and much engaged for the glory of God. 
There were about seventy-five converted at the 
upper, and one hundred and forty at the lower 
church. Elder Taylor was heard to say at one 
time, " he had rather see these all die a happy 
death and follow them to an early grave, than to 
see them turn back again to the world, or fall 
away from their steadfastness to Christ." This 
was thought by some to be an " hard saying," 
but like our Lord who said, "if thy right eye 
offend thee (lead thee into sin) , pluck it out, or 
if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, for it 
is more profitable for thee that one of thy mem- 
bers perish, than that thy whole body be cast 
into helL" So our brother thought it better that 
these should go to an early grave, rather than 
sin against God and " crucify to themselves 
afresh the Soil of God, and put him to. an open 
shame." 

Said a friend, who heard this remark : "it 
seemed as if that desire was granted, for they 
generally held fast and were remarkably firm." 
Many of those disciples are still living, who can 
witness to these things, and by whom many of 
these facts have been communicated. God 
grant that they, like their under-shepherd, may 
continue faithful to the end, and with him ""re- 
ceive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 

Some time after this revival, the upper church 
settled a minister of their own order, and Elder 
5 



54 MEMOIR OF 

Taylor confined his pastoral labors to the lower 
church and congregation. About this time also 
he purchased a small farm in Swansey, which 
made him a pleasant home, and which he cul- 
tivated with a great deal of active industry. 
He received from the church, as we are told, 
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred dol- 
lars, annually, for his support ; this, with what 
he produced from his small farm, enabled him 
to support his growing family quite comfortably. 
Still, none but an industrious and prudent fami- 
ly could have been well sustained with so limited 
means. 

Things moved on pleasantly, and Elder Tay- 
lor and his family soon became very much at- 
tached to the Swansey people, and that people 
in turn much attached to them. He was often 
heard to say, in after life, that he " never enjoy- 
ed himself better than while with this church, 
and during his ministry in that place." He also 
lived on very friendly terms with other religious 
societies, without respect to persons or sects. 
He exchanged pulpit services with the Baptists, 
Methodists, Congregationalists, and Unitarians. 
He once was invited to preach a funeral sermon 
in a Quaker (Friends') meeting house in Som- 
erset. This, at the time, was thought remarka- 
ble, inasmuch as that people do not permit other 
religious sects to preach in their places of wor- 
ship, although they are ready to preach in 
others' themselves, and very often improve such 
opportunities. When will Christians learn to do 
as they would be done by ? when will they learn 
that charity and not exclusiveness forms {4 the 



ELDER BEXJAMIN TAYLOR, 55 

bond of perfectness ?" and is the only true way 
of keeping the "unity of the Spirit in the bond 
of peace." 

It frequently occurred that persons of other 
communions came to hear Eider Taylor preach, 
and as often went away edified and quickened 
in divine things. A member of a neighboring 
church went a number of times to hear him on 
the Sabbath, and soon after was called to an 
account by the church committee for so doing. 
Upon being asl>ed if he had not been to hear 
Elder Taylor preach, he frankly replied he had, 
and that he intended going again as soon as he 
conveniently could; and besides, he said, he 
was very sorry it was so far, that he could not 
go oftener. Here the matter rested for the time. 
The next week the minister of that church met 
Elder Taylor and accosted him with the in- 
quiry : " Mr. Taylor, what are your religious 
views ?" Upon being answered in a frank and 
candid manner by Elder Taylor, he exclaimed, 
" well, sir, these are my views also. If these 
things be so, I wish you would preach for me 
some time." Elder Taylor assured him he 
should be heartily glad to do so, and very soon 
after complied with his request. From that 
time, till the close of his life, there continued 
between them the kindest feelings of friendship 
and Christian love. We are told that he has 
often preached with that people since, and was 
always listened to with great interest and de- 

li S ht \ 

This, it seems to me, is as it should be. How 

much better for those churches, for ministers 



56 MEMOIR OF 

themselves and the cause of Christ was it, than 
if the opposite spirit had been cherished and 
manifested. 

Elder Taylor's wife also co-operated with him 
in many ways in doing good and in seeking the 
spiritual welfare of the unconverted. A mem- 
ber of "the congregation, a young lady of much 
promise, but " living without God and without 
hope in the world," was taken suddenly ill and 
brought down very low upon a bed of sickness. 
In her journal, she says : 

" While upon this sickbed, Elder Taylor's wife came to 
see me, conversed with me upon the subject of religion, and 
then kneeled by my bed-side, and prayed most fervently for 
me. My distress of mind was so great that I wept freely 
and desired much to make known to her my feelings ; yet 
so great was the cross of confessing my Saviour, that I did 
not. Soon after, Eider Taylor also came to see me ; he 
inquired after my health and the state of my mind. I was 
very desirous he should know how I felt, and that he should 
pray for me, yet unbelief, self-will, and a proud heart kept 
me back, and again I grieved the Holy Spirit of God. 

" I neither requested him to pray, nor did he offer to, but 
conversed very feelingly a few moments, and then left the 
room. Oh ! the anguish of heart I felt for not asking him 
to pray for me. I now wept freely, and could exclaim 
aloud, ' Lord, have mercy on me !' When he came again 
to see me, and asked me how I felt in my mind, [ frankly 
told him I was a great sinner, and needed a Saviour ; but 
that I feared it was too late to find religion. ' O no, my 
child,' said he, ' the Lord is merciful and gracious, abun- 
dant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, 
forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. He is more willing 
to bless you than you are to be blessed — only believe. 
Jesus said to all that came to him to be healed, " believe, all 
things are possible to him that believeth.'' ' He then knelt 
in prayer, and while he was calling upon God in my behalf 
I felt a heavenly courage and vigor fill my soul. I indeed 
felt if there was any mercy for me I should now find it. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 07 

My desire was to continue seeking until I found Jesus pre- 
cious to my soul. Soon after this I felt a calm resignation 
to the will of my Heavenly Father, and thrice exclaimed 
aloud, 4 Father, thy will be done.' Upon which an anima- 
tion arose in my heart, which enabled me to say : 

6 Glory to Him that sits on high 

Pleading for sinners such as I. 

O that all the world but knew Him, 

And would be advised by me ; 
Surely they would came unto Him, 

He would cacse them all to see.' " 

The foregoing instance shows how Elder 
Taylor and his wife labored in the sick room, 
and gives an insight, to some extent, into the 
secret of his success, in the great commission 
of " turning men from darkness to light and 
from the power of Satan unto God." It may 
also help to guide some who are asking in their 
hearts, " What must I do to he saved ?" Acts 
16 : 30. 

A passage from the writings of Madame 
Guyon, who lived in the days of Fenelon, and 
next to that great and good man, did more 
than any other person then living to revive pure 
Christianity in France, may serve to aid any 
others who need, most of all, to believe, to ex- 
ercise simple faith. As she was brought up in 
the Catholic Church, she was very naturally led 
to place great stress on outward forms of reli- 
gious service. "While seeking in this way for 
peace and rest to her soul, she was told by her 
religious teacher : " Madame, your endeavors to 
find God have been unsuccessful because you have 
sought outwardly what you only can find within. 
Accustom yourself to seek God in vour own 



58 .MEMOIR OF 

heart, and you will not fail to find him." She 
says, " these words were greatly blessed to me, 
and, under God, brought to my soul what I had 
been seeking by outward means for so many 
years." She continues, " O my God ! Thou 
wast near my heart and I knew it not. O ! 
Infinite Goodness ! Thou wast so near, and 
yet I ran hither, and thither, seeking Thee, but 
found Thee not. I was poor in the midst of 
riches, ready to perish near a table bountifully 
spread. It was for want of understanding 
these words, i The kingdom of heaven cometh 
not by observation : neither shall they say, Lo 
here, or Lo there, for the kingdom of heaven is 
within you ;' that I went so long without receiv- 
ing his grace and tasting his love. This I now 
experience, since Christ is become my King and 
my heart his kingdom." 

The following beautiful lines she composed at 
the time of her illumination : 

" All are indebted much to Thee, 

But I far more than all ; 
From many a deadly snare set free, 

And raised from many a fall. 
O ! Blessedness, all bliss above 

When thy pure fires prevail — 
Love only teaches what is love, 

All other lessons fail, 
We learn it not, its powers, 
Experience only makes it ours." 

That is, religion cannot be learned by the in- 
tellect only, but must be experienced in the 
heart. These extracts show that all true minis- 
ters teach essentially the same truths when they 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, 59 

come to the heart- work of Christianity, and that 
Christian experience is the same, whether in 
Catholic or Protestant churches ; a fact which 
should greatly enlarge our charity and deepen 
our conviction of its reality and importance. 



60 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER VI. 

Chosen representative — Duty of ministers to government — Love 
of children — The ministry his great theme — /Attends the 
ordination of his brother — Loses a child. 

During Elder Taylor's preaching in Swansey 
he was chosen a representative by the people of 
that town. As the legislature met in Boston, he 
was therefore called there some three or four 
months in the year. He was not, however, idle 
in his Master's service while there, for his Sab- 
baths and many of his evenings were spent with 
the Christian Church in that place. Being, as 
they then were, without a regular pastor, his 
preaching was of signal service to them, and to 
this day, they speak of it with joy and grati- 
tude. 

After attending the legislature for two years, 
he was unwilling to go longer, feeling as he 
said, " that he was not in the way of his duty." 
It added something to his support, it is true ; 
but he told his brethren as to " accepting the 
office again he could not do it," and further, 
"that he was willing to live with them and live 
as they lived ; but that he could not bring his 
mind to go where he must legislate a part of the 
time for the people, and that he felt called en- 
tirely to another work." 

Some of his best friends were displeased at 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 61 

this, and thought he ought to consent to go. 
One of the principal families, which had hitherto 
given liberally for his support, now would give 
nothing, in consequence of his refusing to rep- 
resent the town. He, however, consented to 
serve one or two years as Town Clerk and 
Treasurer, at their request, but soon declined 
this, inasmuch as it conflicted with his pastoral 
duties, and obliged him to attend the town 
meetings, in a capacity which he was unwilling 
to do. Said he, " it is a poor place for those 
called to stand on the walls of Zion." 

While it is not the duty of ministers of reli- 
gion, as a general thing, to fill these offices, be- 
cause called to another work, a higher trust, yet 
it is then: duty, living under a government 
where the elective franchise can be used for so 
much good or evil, and where a single vote^ 
may sometimes give an entirely different direc- 
tion to the affairs of a whole nation, to make 
themselves acquainted with the great interests 
and wants of the country, and to use that power 
and influence for truth, justice, and "the best 
good of the race. Can means for doing good 
be put within our hands and we neglect to use 



*" It is said a single vote sent Oliver Cromwell to the Long 
Parliament, Charles Stuart to the scaffold, revolutionizedEng- 
land, and made Great Britain free. Four votes, in the city 
of New York, made Thomas Jefferson President of the 
United States. One vote gave us the tariff of 184*2, and 
one vote made the tariff of 1846. One vote gave us Texas, 
made war with Mexico, slew thousands of our people and 
purchased California, turned thither the tide of iuaigr* 
which may change the destiny of the world." 
6 



62 MEMOIR OF 

them with impunity ? Is it of no interest to a 
preacher of the gospel what the character and 
principles of our Presidents, Senators, and 
Congressmen, Governors and Representatives 
shall be ? yea, our Selectmen and School Com- 
mittees ? To whom can these questions be of 
greater moment ? Shall they who are set as 
watchmen be false or indifferent here ? Whose 
vote, if not the ministers of Christ, may we expect 
to be given in the light of true religion, sound 
knowledge, and the fear of God ? Says the 
prophet : " He that rulelh over men must be 
just, ruling in the fear of God." And who, let 
me ask, if not God's people, will be likely to 
elect such men to offices of trust ? 

Elder Taylor continued to carry on his little 
farm with interest and delight, and was emphat- 
ically " diligent in business, fervent in spirit, 
serving the Lord." He was a farmer, a sea- 
man, a mechanic, a school teacher, a minis- 
ter, and, for a time, in the legislature. But 
none of these, nor all of them put together, 
were to him what the ministry alone was, and 
for this he would leave all the rest, having en- 
gaged in these things, only as Paul did at tent- 
making, to minister to his necessities, and to 
subserve the great end of preaching the gospel.^ 
The preaching of the gospel of Christ was the 
great object and work of his life. This was 

* Many of our preachers then, and not a few even now, 
are compelled to work with their hands, in order to sustain 
themselves while preaching the word of life. The love of 
Christ, and love for souls, constrains them to preach, al- 
though not sustained as they ought to be. 



ELDER BENJAMIN' TAYLOR. 



63 



the height of his ambition, and the joy of his 
heart. Although he at first entered the ministry 
reluctantly, tremblingly, yet, now that he had 
entered it, and forsaken all for Christ, he could 
not easily be diverted from it. To him it was 
indeed the high calling of his profession ; and 
the weight of responsibility in the ministry, to 
him, was immense. Others might talk about 
it, paint it in high colors, but he felt it. He lived 
it. He was in reality Fenelon's good minister, 
and faithful under-shepherd. If he was labor- 
ing, it was with a view to serve God's cause, or 
if in any secular business, it was only that he 
might ultimately do the more for God. Hence 
when ever so busily engaged at work, a call 
to attend a funeral, an invitation to hold a meet- 
ing, a request to go and succor, by counsel and 
sympathy, a weak church, found him always 
ready, willing, and glad to leave all and go to 
their aid. 

He took great interest in children, noticed 
them, spoke with them, and sought to amuse 
them. They loved him as they loved "a father, 
and he in turn loved them as a teacher and 
guardian ; he led them as the lambs of the 
flock. He would sometimes aid them hi their 
play-grounds, join them hi their rambles and 
search for wild flowers. They would run up 
to him in the streets, with a confiding look, 
knowing that he would stop to speak with them, 
though ever so busy. 

The aged, also, found great delight and sat- 
isfaction hi his society, and listened with rapture 
to his conversation. He seemed always to 



64 MEMOIR OF 

have something instructive for all. Thus the old 
and the young met in sympathy in his heart. 
They hung upon his lips, and drank in his spirit. 

In 1828, he preached the sermon at the ordin- 
ation of his brother, James Taylor, in the same 
place where he himself was ordained. It was 
a singular coincidence of circumstances, that 
just fourteen years from the time that he was 
ordained, at the same place, the same month, 
the same day of the week, and the same hour 
of the day, he assisted in the ordination of his 
brother. This, however, was not noticed till 
afterwards. He was more than ordinarily as- 
sisted, on this occasion, by Him, who said, 
" My grace is sufficient for you." 

When addressing his brother, he spoke of the 
greatness of the work to which he was called, 
and the responsibility of the station. He 
was deeply affected, and when he opened to 
view the treasury of grace promised to the 
faithful minister, made accessible through the 
mercy of God and a crucified Redeemer, he 
was melted to tears, and many of the assembly 
wept with him. 

Elder Taylor was now blessed with a pleas- 
ant family ; but the little circle was not always 
to remain unbroken. A lovely and promising 
son, nine years of age, was suddenly called 
from their midst. He who had so often wept 
with others, was now bowed down with sorrow. 
For a moment the trouble seemed too heavy, 
the loss too great, for him to bear up under. 
But like the willow that bends to the blast, 
so his spirit yielded submissively to this 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, 65 

afflictive dispensation, Soon, however, the 
consolations of religion raised that afflicted 
spirit, in praise and adoration, to " Him who 
giveth," and to Him also that " taketh away." 
He could now say, u He doeth all things well." 
In the words of another, a kindred spirit, he 
could sing— 

" Though plunged in sorrow, I resign 
My soul to that dear hand of thine 

Wi r hout reserve or fear ; 
That hand shall wipe my streaming eyes, 
Or into smiles of glad surprise 

Transform the falling tear. 

Thy choice and mine shall be the same, 
Inspires, of that holy flame, 

Which in my soul doth blaze ; 
To take my cross and follow thee 
Where love and duty lead, shall be 

My portion, and thy praise." 



66 MEMOIR OP 



CHAPTER VII. 

Preaches in ^all River — V'sits the West — Moves to Michi- 
gan — Indians —^ravels and preaches — Sickness — Visits [New 
England — Preaches in Providence — Becomes Bethel preacher. 

Not long before the time of which we are 
now speaking, a small church was gathered 
in the village of Fall River. Many of the 
members were young, and the church weak. 
Elder Taylor being experienced and well known 
there, it was thought advisable for him to take 
charge of this church, at least for a time. Ac- 
cordingly in October, 1830, he commenced his 
labors with them, and continued nearly a year. 
He did not remove his family there, it being 
only about six miles distant from Swansey. He 
labored diligently and faithfully till the coming 
spring, when he made a short journey to Illinois 
and Michigan. 

For some time he had been anxious to see 
the western country, and being well pleased 
with it, was much inclined to move his family 
there, upon one of those rich and beautiful 
prairies. He had now six children. The oldest 
son had followed the sea sometime, having been 
two whaling voyages, but was now willing to 
join the family in going West to settle upon 
a farm. Mrs. Taylor was very anxious to go, 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 67 

the children were all willing, and Elder Taylor 
thought there was a prospect of doing much 
good in the cause of Christ, beside doing well 
for his family and keeping them all together. 

Accordingly, in the summer of 1831, he de- 
cided to move West; and of course much 
preparation was necessary for so great an un- 
dertaking as it was then considered. Meantime 
Elder Taylor preached frequently with the 
church in Fall River, and often with the church 
in Swansey. When the last Sabbath that he 
would spend with a people so much endeared 
to him, by a long and happy acquaintance, by 
joys and sorrows, finally came, and the beloved 
and affectionate pastor was about to deliver his 
last sermon to the church where he had preach- 
ed for nearly twelve years, he selected for his 
text the words of Paul: " And now behold I 
go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not 
knowing the things that shall befal me there." 
Acts, 20: 22. 

It was an affecting scene — both preacher and 
people were melted to tears. Many of the 
brethren remember and speak of that season, 
with deep emotion to this day. Many endeav- 
ored to dissuade him from his purpose, but 
duty, as he believed, urged him forward. 

Accordingly, on the 16th of August, 1831, he 
left Swansey for the far West, as it was then 
called, the territory of Michigan. A long and 
tedious journey lay before them. They went 
by packet to New York, thence to Albany, and 
to Buffalo, by the great western canal. To 
Detroit by steamboat, and to the interior by 



68 MEMOIR OF 

wagons. After a journey of one month and 
two days, they reached that section of country 
called St. Joseph's, in the western part of Mich- 
igan ; a rich and fertile country, watered with 
brooks and fine rivers, and covered with wide- 
spreading prairies. There were then but few 
white inhabitants in that section, and those were 
scattered over a wide extent of country. There 
were, however, many Indians, and those of a 
friendly and pacific character, except when 
under the influence of intoxicating drinks. 

Elder Taylor's family were surrounded by 
the Pottawatamy Tribe. The old Chief, Sag- 
amaw, and the young Chief, Shornoble, were 
kindly disposed, and often called in to see their 
new neighbors. Whenever the Indians were 
likely to have a drunken frolic, in consequence 
of having obtained whiskey from the whites, the 
Chiefs would go and tell Elder Taylor, saying, 
" Shut your doors, and not let them into your 
wigwam," (as they called his farm house,) 
" while they are squibly." By these timely 
warnings they escaped many dangers and diffi- 
culties, which they otherwise must have expe- 
rienced. 

As soon as they were sufficiently settled, El- 
der Taylor made inquiries about meetings, and 
we hear of his preaching in various places. 
He had, however, much to do in temporal mat- 
ters, to make a beginning to five in that new 
country. House to build, trees to cut down, 
fences to make, land to break up, and seed to 
sow and plant. But one already inured to 
labor, diligent and active as he was, together 



ELDER' BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 69 

with his sons, could do these things more readily 
and with greater ease, than many others could 
have done. He was situated so as to exert con- 
siderable influence on a wide extent of country. 
Everything was new, forms of society unsettled, 
and might be easily made to take a false or true 
direction, both in regard to morals and religion, 
as circumstances determined. He, therefore, 
sought diligently to scatter broad-cast the good 
seed. He very soon gave a temperance dinner, 
at his own home, which gave a right direction 
to that subject in his neighborhood. He was a 
warm and active friend of temperance, and gave 
his entire influence for its success. The Indi- 
ans, especially, needed the counsel and influence 
of a thorough, decided temperance man. They 
were kind when sober, but dangerous when in- 
toxicated. Fortunately, from the first, Elder 
Taylor had secured their confidence and good 
will. They would come to him for counsel, for 
aid — with their difficulties and troubles, for 
him to settle them. He often did so. A very 
serious difficulty now occurred, which was as 
follows : Sometime before, the Indians sold the 
most of their lands to the United States Govern- 
ment, holding only what is called the " Indian 
Reserve" After a while, Congress sent agents 
to purchase that, also, if the Indians were willing 
to sell. Each tribe had reserved ten miles 
square of the choicest hunting and fishing 
grounds, together with the graves of their 
fathers. For a time they were unwilling to 
sell, as they are a people which reverence deep- 
ly the graves of their ancestors. The Chief of 



70 MEMOIR OF 

the Pottawatamy tribe, however, after saying he 
would not sign the papers to sell his lands, al- 
tered his mind, and went and signed them. 
This so offended a neighboring Chief, that he 
sought an opportunity to take his life. For this 
purpose he came to make Sagamaw, to appear- 
ance, a friendly visit. But one day while they 
two were alone in the wigwam, he drew a knife 
and stabbed him to the heart, causing instant 
death. This so enraged the young Chief, Shorno- 
ble, whose father had been killed, that he swore 
eternal vengeance on the wretch who committed 
such an atrocious deed. When the murderer 
could not be found, the young Chief came to 
Elder Taylor and wanted to know if he " would 
hang that villain like a dog,^ if he would go 
and bring him?" Elder Taylor told him 
he had " no power to hang him, nor did he de- 
sire to." He said that it was true " he had been 
greatly injured, and that the man who did that 
wrong would have to answer for it, before Al- 
mighty God, in the Day of Judgment. Ven- 
geance belongs to God, he will repay. But 
while we are in this world, we must love one 
another, forgive injuries, do good for evil, love 
our enemies, and pray for them that despitefully 
use us." Upon this he went away, and gave 
up the idea of having him hung. After some 
persuasion, he consented to settle it in another 
way. His decision was soon communicated to the 
offender, a day was appointed, and the arrange- 

# The Indians have a most horrid idea of hanging. 
They regard it as the most awful death one can die. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 71 

ments made for its adjustment. The young 
Chief Shornoble and his friends seated them- 
selves in a semicircle, the offender and his 
friends met them, and sat down opposite, thus 
making an entire circle. The old men began 
by smoking the pipe of peace, then speeches 
were made — after which the offender offered 
the presents to the young Chief, which were to 
atone for his guilt. The presents consisted of 
several pieces of broadcloth, red and blue, a 
bag of silver dollars, and several ponies. When 
the young Chief came to receive them, it was 
with some reluctance, especially when the of- 
fender gave into his hands the bridle-reins of the 
ponies ; but, inasmuch as he did receive them, 
it was then settled. 

Elder Taylor was taken sick, and thus pre- 
vented doing much for some time. The coun- 
try being new, the land very rich, and thousands 
of acres broken and tilled in a year, caused the 
decay of an immense quantity of vegetation, 
which, it was thought, filled the atmosphere 
with a sickly vapor, very injurious to health. 

In 1835, the writer saw him at the Christian 
Conference held in Jacksonburg, Michigan. He 
preached during the session of Conference, and 
administered the rite of baptism, and the Lord's 
Supper. It was the first time he had ever seen 
him, and his faithful preaching, fervent pray- 
ers, solemn and interesting remarks and 
manner during the ordinances, deeply affected 
his heart. The brethren in the Conference 
seemed to look up to him, as to a father. They 
felt the value of his gift, his experience, his wise 



72 MEMOIR OF 

and judicious counsel, and above all, his fervent 
piety and devotion to the cause. 

He was a number of times chosen by the 
Conference to travel through the State of Mich- 
igan, to hold general and quarterly meetings, 
in order to build up the churches, draw together 
the scattered brethren, break new ground, as it 
is often called, and above all, to awaken an inter- 
est and promote revivals of religion. Once, I 
think, he travelled in company with Elder John 
"Walworth, an able and efficient minister, who 
also did a good work in that State for our cause, 
and at another time, with Elder John Cannon, 
who is still working on in that region, with un- 
diminished zeal and usefulness. Although their 
efforts and success were much abridged in con- 
sequence of a want of means in carrying out 
their missionary plans, still they did much for 
the cause of Christ. A brother of Elder Tay- 
lor's who moved to Michigan afterwards and 
settled near him, and to whom reference has 
been made, writes me as follows : 

" My brother labored hard and patiently here for several 
years, but the country being new and sparsely settled, he, 
as well as myself, saw comparatively little accomplished to 
what we desired. We differed in our doctrinal views on 
religious subjects, but I do not know that we ever exchanged 
a word with unkind feelings during the time we resided 
together in this new country." 

At different times Elder Taylor was taken 
sick with the fever that prevailed in the early 
settlement of that country, which made him de- 
sire to visit New England, to improve his health. 
A kind providence soon opened the way. He 



ELDER BENJAMIN* TAYLOR. 73 

received a letter from the Christian Church in 
Providence, R. L 3 then without a pastor, desir- 
ing him " to settle with them : and if he could 
not be prevailed upon to settle, to come and 
preach with them, a year at least." 

On receiving this call, he decided at once to 
make a visit East among his friends, if possible 
improve his health, and as far as the way might 
open, preach with the church in Providence. 
After residing about nine years in the West, he 
returned to New England on a visit, which not 
only greatly improved his health, but resulted in 
his settlement for several years, in Rhode Island. 
He arrived in Providence in June, 1S40, and 
preached the following Sabbath, with the Paw- 
tuxet Street Church. They were anxiously 
waiting for his arrival, and his coming to them 
was like the coming of Titus — and as a cloud 
fraught with ram. 

After spending a short time with this church, 
he left for a few weeks, and visited his aged 
mother and two brothers in the ministry, then 
residing in Portsmouth and Middletown, R. I. 
He also visited Swansey, New Bedford, and 
Fall River, where he met the congregations of 
his former charge, with whom he had spent so 
much of his life. 

His health now unproved, and he returned 
to Providence and continued his labors constant- 
ly. The writer had been pastor of that church 
for more than two years before, and was happy to 
be succeeded by one so devoted and eminent- 
ly useful in the cause of God. The church had 
enlarged their chapel while he was with them, 



74 MEMOIR OF 

and purchased a lot of land, with a view to erect, 
at some future day, a larger house of worship, 
which has since been done. At the time he 
left, the chapel was well filled, insomuch that 
one of the deacons remarked, " Brother 3Mfc=fc, 
I fear you mistake your duty in leaving, ~ it 
is true you may have a larger house, but I think 
not one better filled ;" yet now, on Elder Tay- 
lor's coming, it was literally filled ,to over- 
flowing. 

In the course of the following winter, Elder 
Taylor was blessed with a very precious revival, 
and many were added unto the church.^ His 
ministry, this year, did much, under God, 
for the upbuilding of the church, and for the 
good of the cause generally. It was during 
this year that the friends of seamen, and sea- 
men themselves, formed the plan of erecting a 
Bethel, and obtained from Elder Taylor a par- 
tial engagement to become their preacher, pro- 
viding they met with encouragement sufficient 
to go on with the Bethel enterprise. 

He returned to his home in Michigan, in June, 
1841, and remained there through the summer. 
In September, he received a letter from friends 
in Providence, informing him that there was a 
strong prospect of soon having a Bethel for the 
mariner, and claiming of him, when such should 
be the case, a fulfilment of his promise, viz. 
" to become the Bethel preacher in that city." 

* He was assisted very much in this revival by his broth- 
ers, Elders James and John Taylor, the latter of whom 
succeeded Elder Benjamin Taylor in the pastoral charge of 
that church. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 75 

About the same time, he received another 
letter from the Pawtuxet Street Church, desiring 
him to be at the dedication of their new house 
of worship, on the first of November. It was 
further stated in the letter, it was believed his 
coming to Providence to labor as seamen's 
preacher, would strengthen our cause in that 
place, and aid them in paying for their new 
house. Having a desire to do any service for 
the cause of God, and the encouragement of 
those brethren, which lay in his power, he made 
arrangements to be in Providence the last of 
October. He therefore was present, and assist- 
ed at the dedication. It was a season of con- 
siderable interest to that people, and their pros- 
pects now looked truly encouraging. Elder 
John Taylor, a younger brother, then the pastor 
of that church, was preaching to good accept- 
ance and success. The following December, 
the Bethel was so far completed as to be open 
for Divine service — and was dedicated to the 
worship of Almighty God, and the salvation of 
seamen, by appropriate religious services, on 
the 14th of December, 1841. The sermon on 
the occasion, was preached by Edward T. Tay- 
lor, of Boston — a man of remarkable gifts, 
and one who has done much for seamen. His 
text was, " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
earth peace, good will towards men." Luke 
2 : 14. In the evening, Elder Benjamin Taylor 
spoke from these words : " And I will give chil- 
dren to be their princes, and babes shall rule 
over them." Is. 3 : 4. From that evening until 
the 5th of July, 1848, he labored with untiring 



76 MEMOIR OF 

zeal and self-sacrifice, in the cause of his Divine 
Master. 

He usually preached three times on the Sab- 
bath, morning, afternoon, and evening. In the 
evening, after a short sermon, they held a prayer 
and conference meeting, all being invited to stay 
and join with them. Much of the time, nearly 
the whole congregation remained till the close. 
He was particular to close the meeting at nine 
o'clock, that all might return home in good sea- 
son. In this way he secured good attendance, 
with good order ; and more than all that, a 
deep and living spirit of devotion was felt in the 
church, a holy zeal, and revival interest was 
manifest, followed often with the conversion of 
souls ; so that rejoicing was heard in their midst, 
even as " there is joy in the presence of the an- 
gels of God, over one sinner that repenteth." 
Luke 15 : 10. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 77 



CHAPTER VIII. 
REPORTS. 



REPORT TO THE PROVIDENCE SEAMEN S FRIENDS SOCIETY, FOR 
THE YEAR ENDING DEC. 14, 1842. 

Brethren: Everyman of observation knows that no 
important enterprise is entered into, whether religious, 
moral or political, where, in its beginning, the whole ground 
of labor can be seen at one glance. In prosecuting the ob- 
jects of such societies, new discoveries are made, new fields 
of labor open, and increased energy and labor are called 
for. 

On entering upon my duties as Seamen's preacher, in 
this city, one year ago, I was not fully aware of all the 
work that would naturally devolve upon me. I have, how- 
ever, endeavored to meet the openings of Divine Providence 
in all cases where the sailor has been immediately concern- 
ed, with the ability God has given me, together" with the 
means placed at my disposal. 

Notwithstanding the great amount of good that had 'al- 
ready been done for seamen of this port, by the Ladies' 
Bethel Association, in opening a Temperance boarding 
house for them, together with the active labors of Mr. 
Douglass, the city missionary, still the sailor was left with- 
out a place where he could go and attend religious worship 
and feel at home. By the united efforts of the seamen of 
this port, who subscribed about seven hundred dollars, and 
other friends in the city, the sam was made up to about 
eighteen hundred dollars ; bat still being unable to build 
such a house as was desired, two gentlemen, entrusted 
with the subscription, by a vote of the society, came for- 
7 



VO MEMOIR OF 

ward and erected this house of worship. Although it is 

not yet entirely finished, as to pews, yet it is made com- 
fortable. 

Its doors were opened for religious worship one year ago 
the 14th day of this month, (Dec, 1841.) The two gen- 
tlemen referred to have executed a deed of conveyance to 
the mariners of this port, and placed the house, by this 
deed, in the hands of twelve trustees, selected from 
ent religious societies of this city, to hold the same in trust 
forever, secured to the religious worship of the seamen of 
this port. Those gentlemen, however, have a clause in- 
serted in said deed which gives them security on the house 
and lot, for the amount paid out by them, over and above 
the subscription, limited to two years. 

The cost of the building and lot in its present condition 
is about four thousand dollars. 

From what we have seen the past year, very many of the 
seamen have needed little persuasion to induce them to at- 
tend statedly on Divine worship ; for as soon as a place was 
prepared in which they could assemble in common with 
their brethren, they readily embraced it. 

The number of manners attending worship here. I think, 
includes the greater portion of all in port. Our house has 
been opened for worship regularly every Sabbath, the year 
past, and our congregation has been much larger than I ex- 
pected at the commencement. I think our meetings are 
increasing in interest with the sea-faring portion of our 
community. The number of interesting letters I have re- 
ceived within a few months past, from sailors who have left 
this port and sailed foi different parts of the world, show- 
how deeply interested they are in the cause and prosperity 
of the Bethel. They ask particularly, ; ' how are you get- 
ting along at the Bethel? 1 ' In addition to my labors in 
preaching statedly in this house. I have endeavored to fur- 
nish seamen going from this port, with Bibles. Testaments, 
tracts, books, pamphlets, hymn books, religious and moral 
newspapers. 

Every one acquainted with seamen knows verv well that 
many of them are under very bad influences while in port ; 
many are in the habit of drinking ardent spirits, and the 
older often lead the younger astray. Others are under the 
influence of their landlords, manv of whom feel no interest 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 79 

for their present or future welfare ; while others are under 
the influence of those places, the inmates whereof lead in 
the way of death. " Her house is the way to hell, going- 
down to the chambers of death." Piov. 7: 37. It is 
chiefly in a free and unembarrassed state of mind that we 
must look to the sailor, with a view to do him good. And 
if we do not find him thus on shore, we must follow him 
to sea, look for him in the forecasile of the ship, sitting- on 
the windlass, or leaning on the capstan, and there commune 
with him, if not in person, by books, tracts, &c. No soil 
promises a richer harvest than the heart of the sailor, only 
cultivate it when free to reflect, and weigh moral and reli- 
gious truths; then, yea, then sow the seed, give it broad- 
cast to the winds of heaven, and a bountiful harvest, under 
God, of precious souls for whom Christ died, will repay thy 
toil, and rejoice thy heart. 

BETHEL CHURCH. 

The advice of many wise and experienced friends of 
seamen, such as Edward T. Taylor, (Seamen's preacher 
in Boston,) and others, together with my own convictions of 
duty, have led me to organize a church in connection with 
this Bethel. Our object is to make the Bethel a permanent 
resting place for the mariner and his family. 

We were sensible that in many instances in this country, 
Bethel churches have not been formed with the houses of 
worship. But to me, the arguments and demands for such 
organizations, were strong and conclusive. The sailor, 
being at home but a small part of the time, it is natural to 
suppose he will attend the Bethel, where there is one. He 
feels no disposition to go elsewhere for the ordinances of 
Gods house ; he wants them here, for this is his home. 
It is here the minister of Christ enters into his feelings, his 
temptations, sufferings, and dangers. Here he occasionally 
alludes to his nautical life, often carries him from the truck 
to the keelson of the ship, overhauls the rigging, comes to, 
hands sail, weighs anchor, gets under way, tacks ship, 
beats off from a lee shore — in all of which he opens to 
his mind divine things — advises him to ~un up his signal 
for a pilot, which is Christ, take him on board, and all will 
be well. Now in all this the sailor feels at home in the 
Bethel. He is in his own native element, surrounded by 



80 MEMOIR OF 

his own friends and brother shipmates. In addition to this, 
by his side sits his own wife and children, all engaged in 
hearing the precious word of life that drops frcm the lips 
of their own minister, who feeds the devout heart with the 
hidden manna of the kingdom of Heaven. 

Shall he leave the Bethel, andgo to some other meeting, 
where he has no seats fur himself and family, and in all 
probability has to sit in the gallery of the church, where 
he feels little interest either in the meeting or the preacher? 
Bat this he must do, once in each month, or not enjoy the 
service of the communion, because there is no church at the 
Bethel. 

But, on the other hand, when at sea on Sabbath morning, 
at least in his imagination, he sees his wife and children 
going to the Bethel, and if communion day he expects his 
wife, if a Christian, to be in her place at the Bethel ; and 
although he is far from home and from his brethren, on a 
voyage at sea, he takes a trip home in his devotional 
thoughts, communes with his brethren, then returns to his 
duty on board the ship. 

Another reason we offer in favor of Bethel churches is, 
the wife of the sailor will, of course, attend the Bethel 
while the husband is at home, and will she leave it as soon 
as he is gone I Certainly not. She feels her attachment to 
this place because her husband is attached to it : it is here 
she hears the man preach who is acquainted with a sea 
life. It is a truth, the lady who £ives her hand to a sailor, 
whether he belongs to the forecastle or cabin, is never more 
happy than when carried in her imagination to the place of 
his labors, toils and sufferings ; it is here at the Bethel she 
hangs upon the lips of the preacher, because he spiiitualizes 
the whole nautical life of her husband and she loves to be 
among the ropes of the ship, because there both her hus- 
band and Saviour are found through a preached gospel. 

1 have been credibly informed that there are many pious 
females in our seaports, vvhose husbands follow the sea, 
that make the Bethel their place of worship, yet never 
become members of any church, because there is none at 
the Bethel ; their husbands are at home but a small portion 
of the time, and not being acquainted at any other place of 
worship, they do not seek .an acquaintance, because the 
Bethel is their home, and in this way both they and their 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 81 

husbands live all their days without enjoying the ordinances 
of the gospel in church fellowship. The sailor needs all 
the strength there is to be derived from a strict adherence 
to the New Testament, and to the gospel ordinances, to 
enable him to meet the temptations and trials of a sea-faring 
life. In my opinion the cause of Christianity is much 
weakened among our brethren who follow the sea, in the 
course pursued by many of our Bethel associations by there 
not being churches connected with them. It it our duty to 
spread all the sail we can, take the /advantage of every 
breeze, in order to secure a prosperous and safe passage to 
our destined port. 

It is contended, on the other hand, that if churches are 
formed at the Bethels they will be sectarian, because they 
w 7 ill belong to some one of the denominations of Christians 
in our country, and by this means the support of the differ- 
ent denominations will be withheld from them. I would 
ask, do not the ministers at the Bethels now belong some- 
where ] We will admit the churches at the Bethels do 
partake somewhat of the religious sentiments of the minis- 
ter ; is this a sufficient reason for closing all the avenues of 
charity that might flow to meet the support of the Bethel I 
If this is the case, is our charity of that kind that beareth 
all things, hopeth all things'? If there were churches at- 
tached to the Bethels, in all our seaports, would not our 
brethren who are constantly falling into our harbors know 
where to go to find a home on communion days I But as 
it now is, they know not where to go ; and for months 
te^ether they are deprived of one of the most precious or- 
dinances of the gospel, and are much weakened in their 
religious feelings by this neglect. 

Our Bethel Church in this city was organized the 15th 
of May, 1842. The number of its members at that time 
was twenty-two, — it has since increased to thiity-one. 
One has deceased, leaving the number thirty. It affords 
me pleasure to state to you, that ten out of the thirty are 
men that now, or have, followed the seas, and twelve of 
the above number, are wives and widows of sailors. We 
have felt a very great anxiety to increase our members with 
sea-faring men and their families. It is the sailor we have 
in view, and it is to him we preach ; it is the sailor for 



82 MEMOIR OF 

whose good we labor, and we ask you to assist us in re- 
claiming our too long neglected brothers. 

SUNDAY SCHOOL. 

After the Bethel was opened, it was thought advisable 
to open a Sunday School at the house, for the purpose of 
giving the little sons and daughters of the mariner an op- 
portunity for instruction, at the house where their parents 
would probably attend religious services. Several meet- 
ings were held in the Bethel on Sabbath mornings, for the 
purpose of making arrangements to get the school under 
way ; it however, was not brought into a regular organized 
state until Mr. John C. Lee, from the Richmond street 
church, who had formerly been a sailor, offered his services 
to assist us in the school. Mr. Lee was soon chosen su- 
perintendent, and since that time our school has assumed a 
permanent stand and a regular course of instruction. Our 
teachers, both the young ladies and gentlemen, in this 
school, seem to have come to us under the influence of the 
spirit of the sailor — never to leave his post when stationed 
to the braces of the ship, until every sail draws. Not- 
withstanding the many discouraging things we have had to 
encounter, our teachers have been very generally punctual 
and faithful to their charge. Our school now numbers 
about fifty promising children ; it affords me pleasure to 
state to you that out of this number twenty-six of them are 
the children of seamen. 

We have had to grapple with the oppressive hand of 
poverty in this department, as we have in some others, 
having neither money nor books with which we could 
commence. We applied to some of the Sunday School 
societies in the city, and from the " First Congregational,"' 
and '* Beneficent Congregational " Sunday school socie- 
ties, received a supply of books with which our school was 
opened ; since that time we have made application to other 
societies, and been kindly supplied with second hand books, 
both for our libraries and school teaching. In carrying the 
school forward up to this time, we have expended $5 37 ; 
this sum has been laid out for infant primers, blank class 
books, singing books, &c. I now tender my most sincere 
thanks both to the Sunday school societies, and private 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 83 

individuals, in behalf of our Sunday school, for your liber- 
erality, and ask a continuance of your favors in time to 
come. 

MARINE HOSPITAL. 

I became acquainted with this institution the latter part 
of last winter, or early in the spring. I have made it a 
practice to visit this place every week during the summer, 
but have failed in some instances in consequence of being 
out of health, and occasionally out of the city. The whole 
number of persons that have been sent there by the proper 
authority, and placed under the care of the attending phy- 
sician, Dr. Rives, since the 1st of January, 1842, is forty- 
one. The gentleman and lady who have the charge of this 
house, appear to be much interested for the sailor, and do 
all they can for his comfort while under their care. The 
house has not been without more or less sick at any time 
during the year past. In this house a good opportunity 
has been offered to recommend the blessed religion of our 
Saviour, and that moral reform so essential to the happi- 
ness and prosperity of the seamen ; and on all occasions I 
have found them willing to hear me pray, and to converse 
on the subject of religion. There I have found some men 
who had professed the religion of Christ in early life, but 
had lost their first love, who, when taken sick, gave evi- 
dence of their desire to return to Christ again, and in tears 
have asked me if I would give them a Bible, in all such 
cases I have been able to furnish them with the precious 
word of life, to carry with them, when discharged by the 
physician. In other instances I have found some of them 
very sick, and as the gentleman who has the care of them 
is allowed only $ 2 50 per week, for board and nursing, it 
cannot be expected that he can furnish those items that 
would conduce much to the comfort of the sick sailor ; 
when I have thought they needed these things I have made 
their wants known to ladies of my acquaintance, and have 
always been supplied, either with the articles needed or 
money to purchase them. In the year that has passed, I 
have found no difficulty in raising those small sums of 
money that were needed to relieve the wants of the dis- 
tressed sailor. 



84 MEMOIR OF 



THE DELEVAN MARINE TOTAL ABSTINENCE SOCIETY. 

On inquiring, a few months ago, I found quite a number 
of seamen of this port who had become, by the advice of 
their friends, members of the Washingtonian Total 
Abstinence Society. It was, therefore, thought if a 
society could be organized, its name bearing particularly on 
the mariner, and its meetings held in this part of the city, 
in the vicinity of their boarding houses, it might create a 
deeper interest with seamen, and be productive of much good. 

I named this subject to several of our Bethel friends, and 
found it met their views ; and accordingly such a society 
has been formed in this house. In this, as in all our other 
movements, the object was to improve the condition of the 
sailor. We have had a number of able and feeling ad- 
dresses delivered with good success. We now number 
sixty-six members, and it affords me pleasure to state that 
thirty-five of them are sailors, fourteen of whom are re- 
formed men. The use of intoxicating drinks is the greatest 
foe we have to contend with, in the reformation of the 
seaman ; we can do little for him until he resolves to sign 
the pledge, and becomes a sober man. Of all the men in 
our country none fill more responsible stations than the 
mariner. If men filling the highest post of honor and 
trust on shore become inebriates, you can discharge them, 
and place others in their stead ; but who can discharge the 
captain of a ship, mates or crew at sea — the ship, cargo, 
and lives of all on board depending on them 1 Frequently 
there are many passengers on board, perhaps some of them 
your sons and daughters, whose feeble state of health has 
induced you to trust them on shipboard, for the recovery 
of the same, in a milder climate. 

The present condition of our mariners calls upon the 
public for help. It is the sailor that has made our nation 
what it is ; by his means our canvass has whitened every 
sea on the ijlobe. Our eagle, stripes and stars have waved 
in every port of note in the known world ; and shall we 
let these hardy sons of Neptune sink before our eyes ? 
Shall a part of the thousand mariners that sail out of this 
port be left to perish under the influence of the intoxicating 
cup, while the unknown heathen, in foreign countries, are 
sharing so largely in your prayers, labors and benevolence? 

Benjamin Taylor. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 85 

Elder Taylor made it a constant practice to 
visit the destitute families of seamen, and many 
called on him for aid, and never went away 
empty, or without, exertion on his part to assist 
them all he could. He would sometimes spend 
days together in aiding them, perhaps in solicit- 
ing means to pay house rent for some widow 
whose husband died at sea ; and sometimes he 
might be seen with a basket of provision for the 
needy. Many times he would seek employ- 
ment for those that had no work, interceding 
with ship owners in their behalf. He always 
requested such, however, to sign the temperance 
pledge, not being willing to recommend any 
that would not become strictly temperate. 

In 1842, he suffered much in his feelings, on 
account of the political difficulties which arose 
at this time, called the " Rhode Island War." 
The city of Providence was under martial law 
for some time, and for days together things 
looked sad and dreary enough ; but notwith- 
standing all this, he kept on his way, preaching 
the same gospel of peace he ever had done, not 
turning aside to the right hand or the left, — yet 
for this very straight-forwardness some blamed 
him. About this time it was told him that his 
name was on the list of those intended for im- 
prisonment, but still none of these things moved 
him, for he believed he was doing right in 
preaching peace, even in a city under martial 
law. But after remaining in the city, in the 
midst of tumults and the din of war, until his 
very soul revolted in him, at the daily spectacle 
presented before his eyes, and wearied with 



86 MEMOIR OF 

noise and confusion, he went into Massa- 
chusetts, and remained there until peace and 
order were again restored to Rhode Island, when 
he returned and prosecuted his labors with his 
usual diligence.^ 

* This was a very serious political excitement, growing 
out of an endeavor on the part of a portion of the people 
to effect a change, viz., to do away with the colonial char- 
ter first granted by England, and which restricted the liberty 
of voting to freeholders and their oldest sons, and to sub- 
stitute in its place a constitution, formed by delegates chosen 
by a majority of the people- Others, taking a different 
view of the manner and way of effecting this change, 
thought the delegates for draughting a constitution to be 
presented to the people, should be chosen on the old plan 
of voting, and under the sanction of their existing author- 
ities, — and therefore, were opposed to what, for a time, 
was called, ' ; The People's Constitution,'' or at least, to the 
manner of constituting its legality. The one went for- 
ward, adopted the constitution, chose their officers, and 
declared themselves the proper authorities of the State. 
The former civil authorities declared these movements to 
be illegal, and therefore resisted. For a time the excite- 
ment was so great, as to give the whole State the appear- 
ance of being on the verge of a most dreadful and san- 
guinary war. A number of collisions took place, in which 
men were shot dead. For a while, the most excited and 
bitter feelings prevailed, and no one knew where it would 
end, or when he was safe. A number of ministers of the 
gospel who w^ere supposed to favor one side too strongly, 
were threatened with imprisonment, and some were shut 
up in jail for a short time. Not a few, who were strong 
peace men, like Elder Taylor, were persecuted, threatened 
and endangered. It was under these circumstances that he, 
like his divine Master, when persecuted in one city, would 
flee to another. However, in due time, a constitution was 
formed under the sanction of the existing authorities, and 
adopted by the people ; since which time, things have moved 
on quietly. Colored people can now vote in the State of 
Rhode Island, 



ELDEPw BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 87 

He often took much pains in collecting 
second-hand clothing for destitute seamen, till 
finally the ladies interested in this cause, formed 
a society, called "The Providence Seamen's 
Friends' Society," which attended to this de- 
partment, and very much aided him in his 
benevolent plans. Favors bestowed on sick or 
destitute sailors seemed to rejoice his heart 
more than if done to himself, and no one, Ave 
think, could rejoice over an own son more than 
he did when one of his sailor-boys returned 
from sea rejoicing in temperance, religion and 
sobriety. The Bethel Church, being many of 
them seamen, it was a source of great comfort 
to him, in believing they would become as mis- 
sionaries, to bear the glad tidings of salvation 
to distant lands. 

EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS REPORTS. 

" There are three great points to be kept steadily in 
view, in our mission and work among seamen. One is. to 
save the mariner from intemperance and make him a sober 
man. Another is, to surround him with religious influences, 
to give him a preached gospel and sanctuary, privileges. 
The third and greatest is, to seek his conversion to Christ, 
that he may become a man of faith and prayer ; and through 
him to send the gospel of our salvation to the four quarters 
of the globe.'' 

In one report, it is stated — 

" I have collected and put on board of various ships sail- 
ing from Providence, Warren, Bristol, and Xewport, 
199,680 pages of books, tracts, &c, 99 Bibles, 16 Testa 
merits, 13 hymn books, 3254: religious and tempeiance 
newspapers. Many of these have been put on board of 
whale ships, bound for the Pacific Ocean, where they meet 
with other vessels, long absent from home, and anxious to 
get any thing new to read. Thus they will feed some 



88 MEMOIR OF 

minds, and we trust, do some good. But O, the need 
there is of good, solid, religious books for seamen. If we 
had Bibles or Testaments enough to supply every sailor 
w T ith the l Word of Life,' it would be a blessed thing. 
It must, and will, ultimately be done. I have recently re- 
ceived from the * Young Men's Bible Society,' of this city, 
a number of Bibles for gratuitous distribution, for which I 
thank God, and thank them. 

" I have also received, for the same object, second-hand 
Bibles. But it is often mortifying to my feelings, and sor- 
rowful to my heart, to be obliged to turn away a sailor, it 
may be a young man, who has been castaway, and lost his 
chest, his clothes, and with them his Bible : he comes to 
me to beg one, and lo ! I have none to give him, or if I 
have, it is a second-hand one, soiled and torn, and a part of 
it gone. Some object to giving the Bible promiscuously to 
seamen, because it is said they have sometimes been known 
to sell or pawn it for liquor. This may be so, in some 
cases, but seldom. No such instance has occurred, to my 
knowledge, during a three years' ministry. I was, not 
long since, told by the President of the American Sea- 
men's Friends' Society, (Captain Richardson, of New 
York city,) that they gave the Bible indiscriminately to 
mariners, if they were capable of receiving with it. a good 
exhortation ; he also said he had not known of one instance 
where the Bible had been sold for ardent spirits." 

" The Bethel Church is yet in its infancy, and its 
number small ; fourteen, however, have been added since 
my last report. We have had no extensive revivals for 
the last two years, the state of religious feeling being low. 
generally. I think, however, the members of the Bethel 
Church have held fast, and maintained their religious pro- 
fession quite as well as those around us. I have received 
a number of letters from young men at sea, who professed 
religion while on shore with us, whbh give good evidence 
of a living, growing piety, and of devotion to God. ' As 
cold water is to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far 
country.' " 

Sabbath School. (< Our Sabbath school has been 
kept up, and attended with zeal and interest, both by the 
superintendent, teachers and scholars. The school has 






ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 89 

numbered, in all, over one hundred scholars. Several of 
the teachers who were among the first to offer their services 
in this good work, have continued till now with unabated 
interest and fidelity. I cannot here do justice to my feel- 
ings, without expressing to the superintendent and teachers, 
in behalf of the children and parents, our thanks for their 
kind attention and labor of love." (Many of these teachers 
came from other churches in older to do good.) 

Marine Hospital. " I have continued my visits here 
weekly, and sometimes oftener, as the case of the sick de- 
manded. For the two years past, (1843 and '4), one hun- 
dred and twenty-three sick seamen have been sent here by 
the collector of this port. One hundred and seventeen 
have recovered and been discharged ; six only have died." 

" The Delevan Marine Total Abstinence Socie- 
ty. We have continued our endeavors to keep the subject 
of temperance before the minds of seamen, by holding a 
regular monthly temperance meeting. There have been 
added to this society, since the last report, 353 members, 
most of whom are seafaring men, and a number were in 
the habit of drinking to excess." * * 

In his last report, he says : 

" This society was organized in 184*2. Its meetings have 
been continued, and I think much good has been done by 
its steady, uniform course. 1 have had four, six and eight 
seamen at a time come to my room together, and sign the 
pledge. This society (1848) numbered 856 members, and 
what affords me pleasure is, I can say in truth, more than 
one half of this number are seamen." 

Elder J. S. Thompson, the Bethel preacher, 
says : 

" I often witness the blessed effects of the labors of my 
worthy predecessor, Elder Benjamin Taylor. Seamen re- 
turn from a long voyage, and come to me saying, ' Where 
is Father Taylor V I answer, he is gone — gone to heaven, 
where he so often pointed you, when here on earth. Tears 
start in their eyes, as they turn away in silence and walk 
sadly on, as if their best friend on earth was no more = 



90 MEMOIR OF 

Fourteen of these hardy sons of the ocean came home at 
one time. — they had signed the temperance pledge at the 
hand of Father Taylor, and had all kept it to a man, and 
had preserved the very pledge first given them, with Elder 
Taylor's name and theirs upon it, side by side." 

Bethel Debt. " From the first, the Bethel has been 
seriously embarrassed by a heavy debt. After collecting 
and paying all that could be raised on the original subscrip- 
tion for building a seamen's church, there still remained a 
debt of $2811 on this house. Since then, I have been 
abroad amono friends, and raised by contributions and small 
donations $ 318 13. We have also received from two reli- 
gious societies in this city, Rev. Mr. Halls and Rev. Mr. 
Osgood's, $800, and from the Christian Church in Boston, 
by the hands of Elder E. Edmunds, $200, — making in 
all, $ 1318 13, reducing our debt (including interest, &c.) 
to about $ 1500." 

Destitute and Distressed Seamen. " In the course 
of the two last years, I have frequently been called upon 
by destitute and distressed seamen, for aid. Coming, as 
they often do, from other ports, without money, clothing, or 
acquaintances : boarding houses are unwilling to take them 
in, under such circumstances, — except in cases where they 
have been cast away, then, I am told, one gentltman al- 
ways receives them. Being thus situated, they next inquire 
for the seamen's preacher. At first 1 supplied them from 
my own resources. This I found 1 was not able to do. 
Accordingly I made a statement of these facts before this 
congregation, upon which a collection was taken up of 
$ 10 16, and from various individuals 8*2 03, and from Rev. 
Mr. Osgood $5 00. making the sum of $ 17 19. Of this 
sum I have expended the past year $13 18. I have hand- 
ed this out in small sums, as low as four cents at a time. I 
have, in some instances, paid for those destitute seamen, 
one, two and three days' board, as the case may be. until I 
could get them work, or they find it for themselves." 

The following letter was written by Elder 
Taylor to a brother minister, in answer to vari- 
ous inquiries relating to the Bethel, his support, 
health, and purposes in the future: 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 91 

"Providence, March 18, 1848. 

Dear Brother ***** : In answer to your inquiries, let 
rne say, our congregations are good, nearly as large as in 
any part of my ministry — our brethren think quite as large ; 
but the attendance at the Bethel is fluctuating somewhat, 
as it necessarily must be, owing to seamen going and com- 
ing, and the seats in the house being free. 

As we have thus far had no subscription for preaching, 
and no income from pews, my support has been what the 
people throw into the contribution box, of their own free 
will. These contributions are taken up every Sabbath, 
averaging, for some time past, $5 43 per week. In 1842, 
the amount was some seventy dollars less than the year 
previous : in 1843, it was $339 69 ; in 1844, it was $347 55; 
and for the past three years, about $ 3*28 annually. I pay 
$80 a year for house rent, and from 30 to $40 for fuel. 
Sometimes I have a marriage fee, and presents from friends ; 
we have, however, a good share of company and visiting 
friends, but none too many — for I love my brethren, and 
am always glad to see them. On the whole, I have been 
able to bring my expenses down to my income, for the most 
part ; although at present I am $ 20 in debt, which I hope to 
pay sometime, when the Lord opens the way. For the last 
four years, I have pot laid up a dollar. What little we 
have in the West, is a part of what Mrs. Taylor had when 
we were married. I wish, in case 1 were to be taken away, 
I could leave her something more. She has been a faithful 
servant to the Christian brethren — our house has been a 
welcome home to many of them, and to all that have called, 
by night or day, for more than thirty-five years. 

But enough of this. O could I make our brethren sen- 
sible that the Bethel is one of our own children, given us 
under God, for our good, and as a means of doing good to 
others ; could they see how I have been laboring for nearly 
seven years past, and that I have worn out in the service, 
and am now out of health, have received but a bare living, 
and at times but a short one, — I think they would arise, 
and put to a helping hand, and place the Bethel on a per- 
manent footing and free it from debt. 

I am constrained here to say, as I would ever thankful- 
ly acknowledge the liberality and Christian kindness of our 
Unitarian brethren, in aiding and encouraging us in the 



92 MEMOIR OF 

Bethel cause ; that they have already given us $1000, and 
are now subscribing liberally again to make up the remain- 
der. They have never said a word, or manifested the least 
disposition to draw us to them, or turn us aside in the least 
from our simple, plain, earnest course; but, like the good 
Samaritan, when we were afflicted and pressed down with 
a heavy debt, have poured in oil and wine, as it weie. gi\ing 
us money to help us to do good with. I see plainly that I 
must leave here soon, but it will be with an anxious heart ; 
for my happiness, in a measure, is identified with the Bethel. 
I have been a sailor. I love the sailor, he is a man, a brother, 
and by the grace of God, may become a Christian. Finally, 
I would acknowledge with gratitude and love, many bless- 
ings from my Heavenly Father, and many favors and kind- 
nesses from friends and brethren throughout my whole 
life. I w T ould be sensible that " every good gift and every 
perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights," from 
Him, who notices the sparrows as they fall, and numbers 
the hairs of our head. Into His hands 1 now desire to 
commit all, and to say, " Even so, Father : for so it seemed 
good in thy sight." Anything you may find it in your 
heart and power to do for the Bethel, or for me, will be 
gratefully received. 

Your affectionate brother, 

Benjamin Taylor." 



SEAMEN'S BURYING GROUND, FOR SEAMEN, WITHOUT DIS- 
TINCTION OF NATION OR COLOR, WHO HAVE NOT FRIEND3 
TO PERFORM FOR THEM THE RITE OF BURIAL. 

Such a burying place for seamen, Elder Taylor succeed- 
ed in obtaining, favorably located. He says, in speaking of 
it at the time : "I wish it located where the sailor will 
naturally pass it, in going to and from the Marine Hospital, 
that he may see the respect shown his brother shipmates, 
even in the mansions of the dead. I am desirous to fence 
it, and also to ornament it with trees. * * * When those 
bodies interred on the city lands shall have been removed to 
this place, a correct register of the burials is intended to 
be kept, so that each grave may be known and identified bs 
friends who may inquire for them in after time" 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, 93 

Over the gate leading into the burying ground, 
is written, in large letters — 

"our last voyage is over," 

It is solemn to reflect how soon. in that same bu- 
rying place, is being erected a humble monument 
to the memory of him, who, so little time ago, 
was anxiously securing a resting place for others. 
But when, with Job we can say, "I know that 
my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand, at 
the latter day, upon the earth : and though 
after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in 
my flesh shall I see God ; whom I shall see for 
myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not 
another," we may sing, even then, in the 
beautiful language of Beattie — 

*' See truth, love, and mercy in triumph descending, 
And nature all glowing in Eden's fim bloom, 

On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses a T e blending 9 
And beauty immortal awakes irom the tomb." 



94 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER IX. 

Decline of health — Journey west — The dropsy — Joys of home 
— His death — Reflections. 

Elder Taylor's health, for two or three of 
the last years of his ministry, had been declin- 
ing. Sometimes he was thought, by physicians, 
to have the asthma, at others, the palpitation of 
the heart, or the heart complaint, while at other 
times he felt quite well, yet he did not enjoy 
as good health, as in former days. He perform- 
ed much labor, however, and kept constantly at 
his post. In the winters of 1347-'8, he was trou- 
bled with shortness of breath, and faint turns. 
In the spring, this indisposition increased so 
much, that early in June, he decided it was his 
duty to leave his charge at the Bethel. He 
had, for a long time, cherished the hope of re- 
turning to Michigan, to spend the evening of 
his days where the most of his family were, his 
wife and one daughter only being with him in 
Providence. He also hoped that resting from 
his arduous labors, with a change of climate 
and scenery, would favorably affect his health, 
and endble him to do something more yet for 
the cause of Christ in the West. In one of his 
last letters to me, he says, in closing : 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 95 

" O could I have left here one year ago, and gone West, 
I might have done something, in connection with brother 
White, (our missionary there,) but now I fear all is gone 
by. s The Lord s will be done.' " 

Before closing his labors in Providence, there 
was one thing, especially, he desired to see ac- 
complished, and that was, the Bethel paid for. 
Rev. Mr. Hall, who, from the first, had taken a 
deep interest in the Bethel, and had been a true 
friend to Elder Taylor in his labors, went around, 
personally, with him, in securing subscriptions 
for this object ; but before completing the whole, 
Elder Taylor's health failed so rapidly that he 
was obliged to relinquish it entirely. He was 
now so unwell, and daily growing weaker, that 
he felt if he ever returned West to his friends, he 
must immediately commence his journey. It 
was thought a trip on the salt water might be 
beneficial to him, and he took passage, July 5, 
1848, with Captain Gibbs, for Albany, by water, 
while his wife and daughter were to come, a 
few days after, by railroad. In the mean time, 
Mr. Hall finished collecting the funds -for the 
Bethel^ paid all demands against it, and sent 
word to Elder Taylor, by his family, that, " the 
Bethel ivas paid for. ' ' The kindness and benev- 
olence of these Christian friends in subscribing, 
and Mr. Hall, in collecting the sum due on the 
Bethel, (where Elder Taylor had labored so 
long, and for the prosperity of which he felt so 
great an interest,) when told him by his family, 
that " the Bethel was free and all paid for," 
entirely overcame him ; and he could only 
give vent to his feelings by a flood of tears, and 



96 



MEMOIR OF 



exclaimed, " I have nothing to do now but to 
visit my children and die." 

His wife says, "he was now more overcome 
and rejoiced, than I recollect ever to have seen 
him before, and his friends can never be grateful 
enough to those who were so kind in aiding in 
this worthy object." 

She continues: "While in Albany, we 
stopped with Elder Jasper Hazen, editor of the 
1 Christian Palladium,' and the kindness of his 
family to ray dear husband will long be remem- 
bered with the liveliest emotions of gratitude 
and love." 

They had made much dependence on the fa- 
vorable tendency of his excursion on the water, 
in improving his health, but when his family 
met him at Albany, they found him still weaker 
than when he left Providence. While here, they 
called on a physician, who pronounced his dis- 
ease the dropsy. They had, until now, supposed 
it the asthma, or heart complaint. They were 
very anxious to proceed on their journey, and 
accordingly did so ; but he was so unwell when 
they arrived at Rochester, that they stopped for 
a short time. Here they called in a physician, 
who visited him twice. He agreed with the one 
in Albany, that it was the dropsy, and advised 
them to tarry awhile in the city, as he thought 
he could help him. But Elder Taylor was so 
anxious to get to his journey's end, that he 
could not be prevailed upon to remain. As 
they proceeded on their way, he suffered ex* 
tremely. They often feared he would not sur- 
vive the journey through, but God in his good- 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 97 

ness spared him to reach his home, in safety. 
He was much exhausted by the fatigue of the 
journey, but the joy of meeting his children 
was so sweet to him. that, for a time, he lost 
sis:hi of his weakness and distress in the rap- 
tures of home. 

He often referred to the Bethel and the sea- 
men, saying. "Well. I am very happy in 
the thought that I trust I have done all 
that lay in my power for the sons of the ocean." 
He also seemed to feel very glad that he had 
been favored to leave the Bethel in so s;ood 
hands, saying, " I firmly believe Elder Thomp- 
son will do the best he can for the cause ; be- 
side, they have many both able and willing to 
aid them. The Lord will bless the Unitarians 
in Providence, for their kindness to the sailor.* 
If the Lord in mercy should spare my life, I 
hope yet to see them, to thank them, and to re- 
commend Christ to them all again in this world. 
O that every converted seaman may become a 
missionary for Christ." 

When Elder Taylor gave up the Bethel, he 
seemed to give up everything in this world. 
His mind was calm and peaceful, and he often 
introduced the subject of religion in private 
conversation with neighbors and friends who 
came in to see him. 

His health now gradually declined, and on 
the 4th of August, they called a physician, who 



* The Unitarians of Providence £ave not far from $ 2000 
towards paying for the Bethel, for which Elder Taylor 
ever manifested the deepest gratitude. 



98 MEMOIR OF 

said he had the dropsy, and that it was of so 
long standing, he feared little could be done for 
him. He suffered exceedingly, but the physi- 
cian was unable to do much for his relief. They 
next called a Botanic physician, but his mode 
of treatment was equally unavailing. Another 
regular physician was called, who proposed 
tapping; he called two other physicians, how- 
ever, to consult with him, and after due deliber- 
ation, they decided it was best. August 10th, 
they drew oft over ten pounds of water — and 
the next day, two pails full were drawn from 
him during twenty-four hours. He was then 
quite comfortable for a time, but in a few days 
he filled again, and had to undergo a second 
operation, on the 22d of August, and a third, 
on the 5th of September. After this, he was 
so much relieved, that his family had hopes of 
his recovery ; and he himself appeared quite 
encouraged, in view of the relief he now ex- 
perienced. Through the whole of these pain- 
ful scenes, he was calm and resigned ; yet, at 
times, he would appear somewhat downcast in 
his mind, as if the sun was obscured from his 
view, when again the " Sun of Righteousness " 
would shine forth in noonday splendor, and he 
could sweetly say — 

" There 's not a cloud that doth arise, 
To hide my Saviour from mine eyes." 

In him w r as verified the language of the 
apostle, " for though the outward man perish, 
the inward man is renewed day by day." He 
was happy in the prospect of death, yet with 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 99 

Job, he could say, " All my appointed time will 
I wait, till my change come." 

"One morning very early," says his wife, 
" he wished me called, and said to me, ' my 
dear, it is my wish that you would now give me 
up.' Upon his saying this, I fell down upon 
my knees by his bedside, and prayed fervently 
to God, that he would spare his servant to his 
family if it could be consistent with his will. 
He added his amen, at the close, the same as in 
former instances, when I prayed with him dur- 
ing his sickness. Still, we were all so anxious 
for his recovery, that we could not give him up 
until one more physician, whom report said, 
was very skilful hi such cases, was called, and 
after some persuasion, my husband consented, 
although he evidently preferred we should all 
give him up then. He came, on the 20th of 
September, gave some encouragement, but 
added, he ' feared the dropsy was of so long 
standing, it would be difficult to remove it.' 
His medicine had little effect, and soon our 
hopes were again blasted. On Saturday, our 
son Joseph, who had been absent, arrived home. 
His father seemed much pleased, and rejoiced 
to see him, and they conversed till a late hour. 
Joseph watched with him that night. Early in 
the morning he awoke, but not so bright or so 
well as the night previous. This awakened 
anxiety in Joseph's mind, and he called the 
family. I spoke with him ; he seemed calm 
and happy, but very weak. He was sitting in 
an easy chair, and it was thought best to have 
him lie down. He still grew weaker, and 



100 MEMOIR OF 

breathed more faintly. We all burst into tears, 
when he looked up with a smile, and said, ' do 
not weep for me, children, do not weep for me, 
my dear, — I am happy.' After a moment's 
pause, he exclaimed, ' Praise the Lord, praise 
the Lord, down to the latest generation, for his 
wonderful goodness to the children of men.' 
Thus saying, and breathing shorter a few mo- 
ments, he fell asleep in Jesus. A smile still 
rested upon his countenance, in death, as in life. 
He died on the Sabbath, September 24th, 
1848, about eight weeks after our arrival in 
Michigan." 

A short time previous to his death, Elder 
Taylor said to his family, " It may be that I 
shall drop away suddenly ; if so, send for 
Eider Farley to preach my funeral sermon — 
pay him for coming. If brother "White (a 
missionary in that region, sent by the New 
England Christian Missionary Society, in June, 
1846,) was not so far away, I should request 
you to send for him." When Elder Taylor's 
brother, who lived near by, and came often to 
see him during his sickness, learned of this, he 
went thirty miles for Elder White, to come and 
attend the funeral services. He came, and 
preached on the occasion, to the joy and com- 
fort of the mourning circle, from these words : 
" Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for 
the faithful fail from among the children of 
men." Ps. 12: 1. The funeral was attended 
in his brother's meeting-house, in Schoolcraft, 
Michigan. 

Thus ended the days of one of the excellent 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 101 

of the earth — peaceful, blessed. It was on 
the Sabbath, a day which had been so joyful 
and happy to him, on which he had so many 
times preached Christ, and sung his praises in 
the lower sanctuary ; now he had gone to join 
the blessed above — 

" Where congregations ne'er break up, 
And Sabbaths never end ;" 

there to see Jesus as he is, " and so forever to 
be with the Lord." 

" The dead are like the stars by day, 

Withdrawn from human eyes ; 
But, not extinct, they hold their way 

In glory through the skies." 



[Prom the Christian Herald of October 19, 1848.] 
DEATH OF ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 

The death of this devoted servant of God was, to many 
truly affecting. It was in a great measure unexpected, 
although his continued illness and the aggravated nature of 
his disease, betokened an approaching dissolution. The 
same weekly messenger that brought, as was hoped, the 
glad news of returning health, brought also the .mournful 
intelligence of his departure and death. As we read these 
words, '-Death of Elder Benjamin Taylor, 5 ' our hearts 
were struck with solemn awe. Is it possible ! exclaimed 
many a throbbing heart. Many eyes were suffused in tears, 
as they read the death of this good man. And is it indeed 
so? Is that voice which once spoke w r ords of peace and 
comfort to so many hearts, hushed in silence] Is that 
fatherly counsel, that affectionate greeting, which has cheer- 
ed so many a young minister on his way, comforted so 
many a mourner at the grave of loved ones, enlivened and 
blessed so many of our ministerial gatherings, and so many 
of our congregations and churches, to be heard no more? 
Is the poor sailor, who has listened with delight to that 
fatherly voice on ship-board, in the street, by the way, in 
the hospital and in the house of God, calling him away 
9 



102 MEMOIR OF 

from sin and temptation, from danger and death — and 
pointing him to the Lamb of God, to hear it no more on 
earth? Yes, we shall hear him no more, save as the voice 
of Abel, and the voice from the spirit-land, " Though dead 
yet speaking," saying, " weep not for me, all is well, all 
is well." And do we not now hear a voice saying, 
" Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from hence- 
forth, yea, saith the Spirit, they shall rest from their labors 
and their works do follow them?" Yes. And though we 
shall see him no more, and hear his voice no more on eaith, 
yet he is not lost to us ; yea, he is not dead to our soul's 
communion, though withdrawn from our outward vision — 
still we feel he is with us m a higher sense, which gives 
him back to us in a more sanctified relation than ever. 

In looking over the life and labors of Elder Taylor, we 
can but be struck with the fact, that he died in God's own 
good time — and like Enoch, "he is not, for God took 
him." He died in the Lord, he died in faith, he died in 
peace, and rests in hope. Said one of the martyrs when 
expiring, " this is a good time to die, the right time, for it 
is God's time." The apostles all died the right time — 
when their lives and deaths were worth most to the cause 
of God, and w T ould tell most in favor of Zion. So it has 
been w T ith good men from time immemorial. So we believe 
it was with our brother. Not but his life w r ould have been 
useful still, more useful than mine, more so than many 
others ; but like an apostle he could say, " I have fought a 
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 
which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that 
day." And when we can say this, and say it truly, then 
is our time to die. But O, many never can say this, be- 
cause unfaithful servants — such must die unprepared, and 
hear the sentence of the unfaithful steward, " Depart, I 
know you not." But in the death of our beloved brother, 
I trust" all are enabled to say, " The Lord's will be done." 
He that " giveth," knoweth best when to "takeaway." 
" The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed 
be the name of the Lord." 

His death will be felt as a public loss. And not this 
alone. There are many who in private are filled with grief 
for the departure of one, to whom, under Providence, they 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 103 

owe their best treasures of rnind and heart. May God 
comfort them ; and may he comfort that still nearer and 
dearer circle which looked to him as the husband and father. 
In the hours of sorrow, may they be strengthened by Him, 
who is the widow's God and the Father of the fatherless. 
May they be supported in this time of deep affliction, and 
find the same consolation and grace in Christ Jesus which 
that husband and father found for so many years. May the 
Bethel church and congregation with whom he labored so 
long, and for v/hom he felt so deep an interest and had so 
recently left, be blessed with the outpouring of the Spirit of 
God, and this solemn providence be greatly sanctified to 
their spiritual good. 

May old friends and acquaintances who loved him dearly, 
be stirred up and greatly quickened in spirit, that they also 
may be found ready when the master calls ; and may the 
Christian Connexion generally, with which Elder Taylor 
was so long united, and to which he was ardently attached, 
be suitably impressed with the loss w T hich it has sustained 
in the death of one of its oldest, ablest and most useful 
ministers. " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death 
of his saints." e. e. 



104 



MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER X. 

Reflections on hU life, character and ministry — Tines on the 
cenotaph placed in t o Providence Bethel. 

We have now hastily gone over the life and 
labors of our departed brother, and seen the 
spiritual mariner entering the port — the soldier 
laying off his armor and retiring from the field, 
the laborer and pilgrim going to his home and 
entering his everlasting rest. It now remains to 
give a general view of him, as a man, a Chris- 
tian, and a minister. 

As a man, he was kind, gentle, and obliging — 
pleasant and agreeable in all the relations of 
life — exact and strictly upright in his dealings, 
punctual in his engagements, and stable in his 
course of life. He so blended the man with 
the youth, the parent with the child, the Christian 
with the citizen, that he secured from all, both 
old and young, love and respect. Children 
loved him, men confided in him. In business 
transactions, as in all his intercourse with men, 
his conduct was above reproach. 

As a parent, he was tender and affectionate. 
He ever manifested that even temper of mind 
and sweetness of disposition, which spread a 
delightful influence around him. If he did not 
rise to those rare and uncommon heights of ex- 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 105 

cellence and power of character that some have, 
neither did he descend into that low and grovel- 
ing weakness which is so common to men. But, 
in him, we see that broad and expanding level, 
gradually rising higher and higher throughout a 
whole life. When we consider the circum- 
stances of his life, that he was called into so 
many kinds of business w r ilh various classes of 
persons, and filled places of trust, it is remarka- 
ble that he should have retained the confidence 
and love of the people so generally as he did. 
An inexperienced hand may steer the ship or 
steady the helm when out to sea, but the experi- 
enced master is required, when in difficult straits, 
amid rocks and shoals, or drifting hard upon a 
lee-shore. Many were the instances of this 
character through which our brother was called 
to pass, in the course of his life. The fear of 
God was before his eyes, and with the Psalmist 
he could say : "I have set the Lord always be- 
fore my face ; he is on my right hand that I 
should not be moved." 

He was not only an excellent man, as a man, 
but an excellent Christian, as a professed dis- 
ciple of Christ, " an Israelite in whom was no 
guile." And it was this Christian spirit, this 
love and fear of God in his soul, constantly 
with him, as with Joseph of old, that preserved 
him in temptation, supported him in trial, and 
guided him in doubtful and difficult places, giv- 
ing him an invincible power to press his way 
through obstacles and opposing influences of 
every kind. But this came chiefly from that 
calm, meek, and Christ-like spirit, with a living 



106 MEMOIR OF 

faith and trust in God, which he so eminently 
possessed. 

When others would have fretted or grown 
excited under trials and injuries, and thus have 
aggravated them, he was calm and forbearing, 
trusting that God would make " all things work 
together for good to them that love him," and 
that He, in some way, perhaps unseen by man, 
would bring all things to work for the best. It 
is by forbearance and kindness that we often 
draw persons to the right, and to duty, sooner 
than by sternly persisting in having things our 
own way. Yet there was a firm, undeviating 
course with him, notwithstanding this concilia- 
tory spirit. 

He was in no sense a changeable, vacilating 
man, sailing sometimes under this flag, and 
sometimes under that. He never was known 
to equivocate or dissemble in religion or temporal 
things. There were no low intriguing plans, 
no piay upon words, no " having men's persons 
in admiration because of advantage." It seems 
to me he had too much of the spirit of Jesus to 
be susceptible of such things. He loved good- 
ness for goodness' sake, and righteousness for 
righteousness' sake. He loved devotion to God 
and love for man wherever he saw it, or under 
whatever forms of religion expressed. 

There was a catholicity of spirit, a charity in 
his soul, which " beareth all things, believeth all 
things, hopeth all things, and that never faiieth," 
which rendered him free and cordial to other 
Christians without distinction of name, condition 
or race ; and which, in turn, drew others to 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, 107 

him. Yet he was clear and decided in his own 
religious views, and steadfast in his religious at- 
tachments. He was a member of the Christian 
Connexion, and nothing, either by way of pros- 
perity or adversity, could, in the least, move 
him from it, or turn him from his "first 
love." He could say, with one anciently, who 
replied, when asked, " wouldstthou be spoken 
for to the king ?" "I dwell among mine own 
people," — and with Ruth, " Entreat me not to 
leave thee, or to turn from following after thee : 
for whither thou goest, I will go ; where thou 
lodgest, I will lodge ; thy people shall be my 
people and thy God my God ; where thou diest 
will I die, and there will I be buried." 

He was at one time assured, by a confiding 
friend, who had already done much for him, a 
member of another communion, that if he would 
only change his denominational relation (with- 
out changing at all his doctrine or faith), so as 
to stand nominally with them, he could obtain 
for him a thousand dollars a year for his services, 
instead of the small sum he was then receiving. 
But no, he said he could not. He believed he 
was where his Heavenly Father placed him, 
where, in the providence of God, he had been 
so long, and where he had been blessed — and 
that if he ever changed his relations, it must be 
from higher considerations than human policy 
or earthly gain and aggrandizement. With the 
apostle, he could say, " I am persuaded that 
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principal- 
ities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things 
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 



108 MEMOIR OF 

creature, shall be able to separate us from the 
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." It is delightful to contemplate that 
staunch friend of the Christian Connexion, that 
weather-beaten " voyager o'er life's solemn 
main," arriving safe in port, without a sail furl- 
ed, with his colors at mast head, streaming to 
the winds of heaven. Ah ! a redeemed one 
has moored his bark fast by the throne of God. 
As a minister of Christ, he was humble, 
faithful and devout. He possessed good natural 
talents, but not rare, — yet his gifts were so 
united with the love and meekness of Christ as 
to make them somewhat superior and extraor- 
dinary. We do not say he was a great man, 
in the sense of enlarged and comprehensive 
powers of mind, with varied learning, a strong 
and vigorous intellect, with vast resources of 
thought and imagination, as Fenelon, "Wesley, 
or Channing ; yet great in goodness, love, puri- 
ty, devotion to God, as any of these — great 
in that moral, spiritual goodness, without which, 
in the sight of Heaven, all other greatness fades 
into insignificance. If, as our Lord teaches, 
that man is greatest who loves most, who 
receives and holds fast the living truths of God 
most firmly, who suffers most for Jesus' sake 
with an unfaltering trust, then, it seems to me, 
he was great in the true sense. The apostolic 
eulogy seems peculiarly fitting to him : "he was 
a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of 
faith." Acts 11 : 24. This is more than saying 
that Barnabas was learned, eloquent or great. 
To pure minds, this is the highest praise. There 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 109 

are different acceptations and standards of great- 
ness and of goodness. To be great, or to be 
good, according to the world, is neither a very 
difficult thing, nor is it a very worthy one. But 
to be good according to Christ and the apostles, 
is both. This requires us to be " filled with 
the Holy Spirit and with faith." Had Elder 
Taylor been favored with better opportunities 
of education, of intellectual culture, when 
young, it doubtless would have brought out 
hidden beauties and excellencies, which, like 
those of the marble, lie hidden until the finish- 
ing hand of the sculptor brings them to light. 
But, as it was, who that knew him cannot say 
there were bright scintillations of light, and 
thoughts of inexpressible excellency springing in- 
to view, and scattering brightness and joy along 
his pathway ? 

He estimated his gifts and powers the humblest, 
I mean the least, of any one I ever knew. 
The smallest gift in others seemed to him of 
more consequence and more interest, than his 
possibly could be. This peculiarity, while it 
possessed many excellencies, was liable to many 
evils. He was continually in danger of under- 
rating his own abilities, and undervaluing 
himself and his power to do good, — and hence 
not as likely to endeavor to extend his useful- 
ness. 

Elder Millard said, in regard to Elder Tay- 
lor's valuable gifts, that " he seemed never to 
think his life or gift of sufficient moment to be of 
interest to any one. Some years ago, when 
travelling through the State of Michigan, lie 



110 MEMOIR OF 

said to me, ' O, Brother Millard, if some able, 
devoted ministers could only come here and 
take hold with us, we could do something, but 
as it is, I fear we do not reach the people. 5 
But," said Elder Millard, " I found, while at- 
tending meetings with him, there was no man 
whom the people were more anxious, or came 
farther to hear, than Elder Taylor himself." 
He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 
Jesus was clothed with humility, yet he did not 
undervalue his power or his Divine mission. 
The apostles were humble men, but not by un- 
derrating their gifts or power to do good. Says 
the apostle, " For I say unto every man that is 
among you, not to think of himself more highly 
than he ought to think ; but to think soberly, 
according as God hath dealt to every man the 
measure of faith." There is evidently danger 
in estimating our gifts and capacities too low, as 
well as too high. The one may lead us to re- 
flect blame on the great Giver, the other, " to 
seek things too high for us," or " to stretch 
ourselves beyond our measure." He could 
truly say with the Psalmist, " Lord, my heart is 
not haughty, nor is mine eye lofty ; neither do 
I exercise myself in things too high for me ; my 
soul is even as a weaned child." While there 
was, on the one hand, so low a self-appreciation, 
so humble an estimate of his own abilities, that 
he was led to feel continually, " I am the least 
of all saints ;" yet, on the other hand, he enter- 
tained such high and exalted views of Christ's 
power and grace to help man's infirmities, such 
unwavering confidence in the promise, " My 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. Ill 

grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is 
made perfect in weakness ;" that with the apos- 
tle he could affirm, " I can do all things through 
Christ, which strengthened! me : yea, when I am 
weak, then am I strong." An elegant writer has 
said : " It is a sure indication of good sense to 
be diffident of it. We then, and not till then, 
are growing wise when we begin to discern how 
weak we are. We are apt to value ourselves 
upon any proficiency in the sciences : but there 
is one science worth more than all the rest, and 
that is the science of living well. This will re- 
main when ' tongues shall cease and knowledge 
shall vanish away.' ' Well might the eloquent 
Young say, when attempting the description of 
a good man — 



o v 



"Some angel guide my pencil, while I draw 
What nothing else than ange] can exceed, 
A man, on earth devoted to the skies — 
Like ships at sea, while in, above tlie world." 

Elder Taylor's preaching was earnest but 
not boisterous, fervent but not visionary, con- 
vincing but not terrifying — mild and persuasive 
rather than dictatorial. He was not a Boaner- 
ges, but a son of consolation; yet sons of 
thunder are as necessary as sons of consolation. 
God had them both in the church anciently, and 
no doubt has now. Elder Taylor was rather a 
Barnabas, " exhorting them that with purpose 
of heart they would cleave unto the Lord," 
winning souls to Christ — .persuading men in 
Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. There 
is a chord in men's souls which vibrates and 
responds to the preaching of such a man. If 



112 MEMOIR OF 

he did not arouse the mind, the intellect, so much 
by cogent argument, he did that which was bet- 
ter, moving the heart and engaging the affec- 
tions by his heavenly pathos and affectionate 
appeals. If, as some have supposed, he preach- 
ed more from the affections than from the intel- 
lect, he also drew more largely in this way from 
Christ's treasury of grace and love. It was 
not great preaching, extraordinary powers, nor 
human learning, for in these he excelled not; 
but in love, meekness, and good will, in the 
spirit of Jesus, moving him to sympathize with 
all : entering into every one's sorrows, or shar- 
ing their joys, that drew around him so many, 
knitting their hearts with his own. It was that 
love which conquers self, draws us to seek the 
welfare of others, binding man to man, and the 
heart to God, which caused him so frequently 
to say, " He hath raised us up, and made us to 
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." 
This was his power, and it is this that touches 
our souls still. We feel that he entered into 
the full meaning of that sublime passage of St. 
John, making it the rule of his life : " Beloved, 
let us love one another, for God is love : and ev- 
ery one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth 
God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, 
for God is love ;" and also of St. Paul, "For 
the love of Christ constraineth us." It is the 
love of Christ, constraining men, which gives 
them power to move the hearts of others. When 
our Lord breathed on the disciples and said, 
" receive ye the Holy Ghost," it was the im- 
partation of that grace which the humblest dis- 



ELDER BEXJAMIX TAYLOR. 113 

ciple might receive, and without which, the lof- 
tiest intellect would be but as a ;i sounding brass 
and a tinkling cymbal.'' Too many judge of 
the merits of valuable preaching by the imme- 
diate effects produced ; when they should re- 
member that some are sowing while others are 
reaping" gifts, some preparing the way of the 
Lord, or seeking the lost sheep of the house of 
Israel, while others guard and feed them. i; Paul 
may plant. Ap olios water, but God giveth 
the increase.*' 

There are different gins, but by the same 
Spirit. and all are equally necessary in the church. 
Elder Taylor, we think, happily combined these 
in one, to a great extent, as the history of his 
life shows. There was one excellency of his 
character and mind, however, surpassing all 
others, and that was, the power to gam and 
hold the confidence of his people. He retain- 
ed the esteem and love of his friends with in- 
creasing interest during a ministry of forty 
years — and circumstanced, much of the time 
not the most favorably for this either — 'but the 
grace of God in lively exercise in the heart, is 
equal to every emergency of human life. 
Many draw around them enthusiastic admirers, 
for a moment, but like the meteor's flash, it daz- 
zles the eye and passes away. But he. like the 
steady rays of the sun. continued to pour light 
and heat upon the souls around him : and if he 
was not so brilliant at first, he nevertheless did 
not afterwards dim and becloud with inconsis- 
tencies and cold formalities. He did not rush 
v on. without first considering the cost. 



114 MEMOIR OF 

Indeed, he may have often failed here of doing 
much good by hesitating too long and not draw- 
ing the bow at a venture. Yet this prudence 
saved him, no doubt, from many a fatal ex- 
travagance and visionary extreme. But when 
he was sure that he was right, no one could 
throw his soul into the work more resolutely 
than he did. If he did not pounce upon you, 
like the eagle upon its prey, as do some reform- 
ers, he did not, however, leave you without lift- 
ing you up in your affections, encouraging you 
in spirit, and helping you forward in your 
course. 

He was not so stationary in improvements, or 
so conservative in reforms, as to be behind the 
age and wants of the people. Nor, on the 
other hand, so fitful in his movements, or radical 
in his measures of reform, as to cut himself off 
from the sympathies of the masses ; but pro- 
gressive, elevating and reformatory. While his 
spirit and feelings linked with other hearts, yea, 
I may say, with the great heart of man, it made 
him a minister not to the few, but to the many, 
and rendered his influence regenerating and 
salutary. 

Too many ministers have been backward in 
taking hold of the reforms of the day, such as 
temperance, peace, anti-slavery, and various 
moral reforms ; but he, from the first, as these 
subjects came up, one after another, welcomed 
them to his heart, lived them in his life, and pro- 
claimed them in his preaching. It was this spirit 
that led him to espouse so heartily the cause of 
seamen. He felt that man was God's child— his 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 115 

brother. He, therefore, looked upon him as a 
brother, and as being the noblest workmanship 
of God's hand. On every human countenance, 
however bewildered in sin, debased by -wrong, 
or covered with shame, he saw written in God's 
own hand- writing, " God's child — man's broth- 
er — angel's companion." "Who, then, that 
sees, that feels, this glorious truth, can but yearn 
over the lost, as Joseph yearned in spirit towards 
his brethren ? "With these principles and sym- 
pathies deeply fixed in his soul, his benevolent 
labors were unceasing ; yet unmixed with any 
desire of personal prominence or control. He 
had, what is not very common, no love of pow- 
er, and at the same time a readiness on all fitting 
occasions to assume responsibility. All men 
trusted his perfect integrity ; while his frank, 
sincere, native magnanimity, wherever he was, 
without his being conscious of it or others think- 
ing of it, shamed away all unworthy judgments 
and suspicions. He was one of the men about 
whom there was no shadow of pretence. You 
knew that at the least he was all that he seemed 
to be, and that any new disclosures of charac- 
ter would be only a revelation of greater worth. 
This gave force to his public instructions. He 
was a deeply religious man ; and when he spoke 
of God, of Christ, of human duty, his hearers 
knew that not a word was uttered by rote, that 
there was not a word, impressive as it might be, 
which had not a far deeper significance to him- 
self than to them. 

His style of preaching was rather historical 
and descriptive, than textual and methodical 



116 MEMOIR OF 

He, however, bestowed much thought on his 
subjects of discourse, collecting all the interest- 
ing facts and ideas relating to them, in his 
power. The directions of the Saviour to the 
apostles, " when brought before powers and 
magistrates, to take no thought beforehand what 
they should speak, neither to pre-meditate," he 
did not believe applied to preaching the gospel ; 
but rather, that men ought to u study to show 
themselves approved unto God, rightly dividing 
the word of life ; to meditate thereon, giving 
themselves wholly to them, that their profiting 
might appear unto all. 7 ' He often prepared his 
sermons with care in his study, or on his way 
to his appointments, as circumstances might 
permit. Sometimes he wrote down the heads 
or leading points of his sermons and carried 
them into the pulpit ; at others, he left them at 
home ; and yet, at others, arranged them only 
in his mind. He never confined himself to his 
arrangements after rising to speak, but let his 
thoughts and feelings flow on in their natural 
and easy course, gathering strength and power 
as he proceeded, till his soul glowed as with the 
fires of inspiration. 

He was not remarkably original, although 
enough so to be peculiar to himself. The scrip- 
tures were to him the grand reservoir of divine 
truth, and from which he opened streams of 
living water to many a thirsty spirit. 

In the last part of his ministry, when his 
whole soul was drawn to the cause of sea- 
men, he seemed filled with the liveliest faith and 
most joyful emotions in view of pious seamen 
becoming missionaries of the cross, and under 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 117 

God, the happy instruments of the conversion 
of the world. To the very last, this thought 
was full of glorious encouragement to his hope- 
ful spirit. One of his most affecting and glow- 
ing sermons, I am told, w r as drawn from the 
words, " Which hope we have as an anchor to 
the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which en- 
tereth into that within the vail; whither the 
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus." 

His ministry was eminently useful. He saw 
not only many converted to Christ, baptized and 
walking in newness of life, but was the means 
of confirming the wavering, comforting the 
afflicted, and building up the cause of his 
Master in various ways. He was peculiarly 
calculated to aid and encourage young men in 
the ministry, and those commencing in the 
divine life. To many, in their spiritual life, he 
might justly be called " Father Taylor," as well 
as by the sailor, in his sea-faring life. His kind 
spirit, fatherly regard, and Christian example, 
were of great service to many hearts. It could 
not be said of him, as of a modern capitalist in 
our country, w^orth several millions, who, upon 
being asked why he did not have the biography 
of his life Written, said, " My life has been a 
failure." Yet this very man attained the end 
for which he aimed — ivealth] but, when too 
late to retrace his steps, found it to be an awful 
"failure" — a fatal mistake. How true then it 
is, that ". a man's life consisteth not in the abun- 
dance which he possesseth." How solemn the 
question, " what shall it profit a man if he gain 
the whole world and lose his own soul ? or what 
shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 



118 MEMOIR OF 

In the Bethel, at Providence, a cenotaph is 
placed, with the following inscription : 

TO 

THE MEMORY 

OF 

ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, 

PASTOR OF THE BETHEL CHURCH 

IN THIS CITY, 

Born in Beverly, Mass., July 22d., 1786. 
Died in Schoolcraft, Mich., Sept. 24th, 1848, 
In the Sixty-third Year of his Age, 
And Fortieth of his Christian Ministry. 



A devoted servant of God. 
A meek follower of Christ. 
A true brother and minister of seamen. 



4 i Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this : 

To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, 

and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, 119 



CHAPTER XI. 

Letters from Elders E. Shaw— M. How— M. Fernald— Wm, 
Taylor — Bro. J. G. Loring — Extract from a sermon, by G. 
W. Kilton — Obituary notices. 

The following letters are kindly furnished by 
brethren who had long known Elder Taylor, 
and been co-laborers with him in the gospel 
ministry. 

NewburyporC, Nov. 19, 1849. 

Brother Edmunds : I learn with pleasure that an ac- 
count of the life and labors of Eder Benjamin Taylor is 
soon to be put to the press, and that it has fallen to your 
lot to be the instrument of this valuable boon to the church 
and his numerous friends. A. history of the life of a good 
man is always valuable ; and especially is it of interest to 
see and read the account of the battles and victories, the 
labor and rest, the trials and deliverances of a. consistent 
and unflinching pioneer in the great work of establishing 
a denomination of Christians in the nineteenth century. 
Such was the character and work of Elder Taylor. He 
entered the ministry when the Christian Connexion was in 
its formation state, identified himself with those who con- 
stituted the original elements of that community ; took a 
prominent part in collecting, settling and organizing those 
elements, and died at his post in the great work of carry- 
ing forward and establishing the principles of the gospel , 
as inculcated by those with whom he first sacrificed the 
honors of the world to promote the glory of God. 

You are not engaged in writing the biography of a per- 
fect example, but the history of a good man. Elder Taylor 
was a man, not an angel; but he was a man* worthy of 
high esteem ; he earned a good reputation, and he enjoyed 



120 MEMOIR OF 

it. The early sacrifice he made was great, and he never 
regretted it. The consistent course he kept was favorable, 
and he never forsook it. He commenced young, and held 
steadily on his w r ay till he was old. He entered the war a 
ruddy youth, and took an honorable discharge when his 
head was white. He came tripping down from the mast- 
head, an agile young seaman, to enrol his name among 
the few who then constituted the ministry of the Christians ; 
and here he stood and nobly battled for Christ, till, leaning 
upon the top of his staff, he slowly approached the grave 
of an old and faithful minister of Christ. 

With many of the present generation, the history of El- 
der Taylor |is best written upon the tablet of their own 
heart and memory. But all this will soon pass away, with 
the multitudes who so rapidly succeed each other in trying 
the realities of death, with the few exceptions contained in 
the brief sentences and statements of facts which will be 
dropped from time to time upon the ears of children by 
those parents who were familiar with the life and labors of 
Elder Taylor. 

Therefore, your work of collecting, publishing and trans- 
mitting to posterity an account of these valuable labors, 
and of so unexceptionable a character, is praiseworthy, 
and deserving the countenance of your brethren. The 
book form will render it permanent, and a valuable volume to 
our literature. Biography is among the most acceptable and 
useful kinds of reading ; and for the gospel minister, the 
life, trials, labors and victories of a successful fellow- worker 
are both a stimulant and cordial ; an encouragement and a 
guide. 

Such was the sterling integrity, the indomitable zeal, the 
unflinching perseverance, the regular morals, the soundness 
of doctrine, the victorious death of Elder Taylor, that his 
biography ought to be read by all. 

When a man devotes his life to the promotion of the 
best interests of man, from green youth to gray old age ; 
when he enters with great sacrifice, continues with consis- 
tency, and falls clad in the armor of a Christian soldier, 
that man is an example worthy of being held up before the 
world ; and his life, or a sketch of his life, cannot fail to 
interest and profit all who read it. When Elder Taylor 
entered the ministry, his ministering associates were few, 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 121 

his prospects of worldly profit or preferment small ; his 
qualifications limited, his hindrances and discouragements 
numerous and great. But to bless the world and save 
souls, he commenced heartily, sacrificed willingly, preached 
faithfully, travelled on foot extensively, labored incessantly ; 
received little and performed much ; held fast while others 
faltered by the way ; never yielded while others turned 
back ; faithfully confessed while others denied their Lord ; 
saw much fruit while others through desertion reaped the 
whirlwind ; he held out to the end while others went back 
and walked no more with Christ. 

Who does not love to contemplate the character of such 
a man? Who does not feel stimulated to Christian action 
thereby? If the life of ministers of the aposlolic age, 
written by their contemporaries, serves this purpose and 
produces this effect, well may a similar work respecting one 
of our co-workers produce similar results. 

A good man has fallen in Israel ! Not as Absalom died, 
but with honors imperishable ! These honors are not the 
empty praises of the lovers of heroic chieftains, nor the 
pompous eulogy heaped upon an actor whose whole life has 
added nothing to the rational joys of the world ; but they 
are the grateful acknowledgements of the heart that gushes 
out with love, and speaks forth the truest sentiments of 
Christian affection. 

Here let the memory of Elder Taylor be embalmed, 
while the historic page shall carry down his character and 
deeds and happy death, to encourage and bless generations 
yet to come. Elijah Shaw. 



New Bedford, Nov. 28, 1819. 
Edler E. Edmunds : 

Dear Brother, — I am pleased that it has fallen to the 
lot of one so well qualified as yourself to collect and pub- 
lish for the promotion of truth, what may be deemed im- 
portant or interesting in the Christian experience and min- 
isterial labors of our deceased brother, Elder Benjamin 
Taylor. It was my privilege to become acquainted with 
him in the early part of my Christian life, and of his 
Christian ministry. He was at the time residing in Salem, 
but occasionally visited Haverhill, my native place, and 



122 MEMOIR OF 

preached with acceptance to the Christian church on the 
Sabbath, and was highly useful in the church and prayer 
meetings holden in the week. No one who knew him 
doubted his deep and heart- felt piety. His uniformly hum- 
ble, solemn and prayerful life taught us plainly that he 
had learned of Jesus how to live, and how to order his 
conversation aright, and how he might best glorify God, 
and be, not only an example to the flock, but instrumental 
of the greatest good to the church and world And this 
lesson of humility and spirituality that he learned so per- 
fectly at the feet of Jesus, and which so beautifully marked 
the whole course of his life, was what gave him the hearts 
and confidence of the people. 

Never have I seen a man who appeared more deeply to 
realize the great responsibilities resting upon a preacher of 
the gospel, nor one who felt himself more unworthy of 
so high and holy a calling. His dread of engaging in the 
work, and fear to neglect it, pressed heavily upon his mind, 
and rendered him an object of pity, and drew forth the deep 
sympathy and fervent prayers of those to whom he unbo- 
somed his burdened soul. However, by the earnest entrea- 
ties and frequent encouragements held out by his brethren 
and friends, he was induced to yield to the impression of 
duty, and enter the field which was ripe and already to 
harvest ; and soon became a successful laborer in the church 
and vineyard of the Lord. His labors in the early part of 
his ministry were devoted mostly to the spiritual improve- 
ment of the church ; and there his labors were not in vain. 
Few persons had so great an influence over the backslider, 
and could so readily persuade him to return to his Father's 
house, " where is bread enough and to spare," as could 
that good man. 

His spiritual views of church order and discipline, his 
ardent love for the people of his charge, and frequent calls 
upon them, his love of the children of his parish, and 
sympathy for the poor and afflicted, his pleasant and sooth- 
ing words to the sick and dying, and his appropriate remarks 
in the house of mourning, made him, in my opinion, one of 
the best pastors in the whole circle of my acquaintance. 
Having made the Bible his principal study, he could readily 
refer to appropriate passages to prove, illustrate or enforce 
the truth upon the conscience and understanding of his 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 123 

hearers. His sermons, though not of the highest order, 
were well arranged, and coming from a heart overflowing 
with love to God and man, and delivered, as they were, 
with much Christian zeal and deep solemnity, were not 
only listened to by an attentive congregation, but often felt 
by them " to be the power of God to the salvation of their 
souls." 

Although the sufferings of Christ, his exalted character, 
his dignified titles, and the fulness of his salvation, were 
themes upon which he delighted to dwell, yet, his clear 
views of the evil of sin, the value of the soul, and the 
danger of losing it, led him in a most earnest, faithful and 
affectionate manner, and with many tears, to warn his people 
to flee the wrath to come, and to pray them in Christ's 
stead to seek, by repentance and faith, to become reconciled 
to God. 

Having been a sailor, he had an experimental konwledge 
of the trials, sufferings, privations and temptations that are 
peculiar to that important class, whose home, for the most 
part, is on the ocean. His experience, and ardent love for 
the seamen, prepared him for extensive usefulness as a 
Bethel preacher ; and I presume no one felt more, or la- 
bored harder for their temporal and spiritual welfare, than 
he did during his residence in Providence, and I doubt not 
but many a sailor will, in the morning of the resurrection, 
not only call him blessed, but be as stars in his future crown 
of rejoicing. 

I do not remember of ever hearing him speak disrespect- 
fully of any denomination. He had a heart and charity that 
could embrace, as Christians, all, of every name that lived 
a sober, righteous and godly life, and it was this Christian 
spirit, with his meek and humble life, as well as his preach- 
ing, which raised him so high in the estimation of the 
people, and endeared him to the saints of every name who 
knew him. 

I think much of his wife and family, who no doubt feel 
they are deeply afflicted by his removal from this world. 
No man, as a husband and father, could be more kind and 
affectionate than was our departed brother. All that was 
in his power to do for their comfort and happiness was 
cheerfully done, and the removal of such a husband and 
father must be a great loss to the family. They feel it in 



124 MEMOIR OF 

the supply of their wants, in the family circle, at the domes- 
tic board, at the altar of prayer, and in all the endearments, 
duties and cares growing- out of their relations in life. 
But they are not left comfortless. 

The highest object of his earthly hopes was accomplish- 
ed — the Bethel was paid for. And the thought that " he 
was a good man, and feared God above many," and that 
he is released from all his trials and burdens on earth, and 
has gone to the rewards of a good and faithful servant in 
heaven, must, in a measure, reconcile them to his removal, 
before them, to his crown of glory that fadeth not away. 
Yours in the strong bonds of Christian affection, 

Moses How. 



Kittery, Me., 1849. 

Brother Edmunds : My correspondence with Brother 
Benjamin Taylor was in April, 1813. Soon after this I 
became personally and intimately acquainted with that 
spiritual and good man. 

His views of conversion, of the ordinances, of the 
Christian life, public worship, church government, union 
and united efforts of Christians agreed so perfectly with my 
own, that in all our long acquaintance we never had the 
least controversy. 

As we were both called from employment on the ocean, 
we could readily rehearse the mercy of God to us, and ad- 
mire his wonderful condescension in calling such untutored, 
unqualified men to preach and build up his church on earth. 
Many weeping and heart-humbling seasons we enjoyed 
together, which bound us with cords of union and love ; 
but he has outstripped me and got into port safe, with a 
rich freight with which his Master entrusted him. We 
were true brothers in Christ, and should age and tempests 
wreck my hull, or dismast me, I hope to be conducted by 
heaven's life-boat safe to port, with my little freight un- 
damaged, there to join Benjamin in praising God and the 
Lamb eternally. 

The disunion of Christians was painful and a grief to 
brother Taylor. Also Christians neglecting to enforce 
gospel discipline in the churches of Christ. He believed 
the testimony of Christ and his apostles an important and 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 125 

sufficient rule or law to govern Christ's church by, without 
creeds, disciplines, or articles of faith plauned by men. 
Brother Taylor was an able minister of Christ. 

Mark Fernard. 

Schoolcraft, Mich., 1849. 
Brother Edmunds : 

When my brother returned to the west the last time, 1 
was not only glad to see him, but hoped we might spend 
many happy days together yet on earth ; but the moment 
I cast my eye upon him, I saw that the disease with which 
he died had marked him for the grave. 

I had hoped, on hearing of his contemplated return to 
this country, that we might pleasantly together, at least up 
to three-score years and ten, spend the evening of our 
days ; but alas! he returned only to bid us farewell, and die 
in the bosom of his friends. I was with him considerably 
in his sickness, and when he was able to ride, often rode 
out with him. His mind was for the most part calm. For 
one or two days, he spoke of being in darkness, but said, 
" he hoped his Heavenly Father would not leave him." He 
found relief, and his mind after this was calm, and his end 
peace. 

In relation to my brother Benjamin and myself, I often 
think of such passages as these: " the elder shall serve 
the younger ;" "the last shall be first and the first last." 
He, though younger than myself, experienced religion first, 
commenced preaching first, has finished his work, and I 
trust, gone to heaven first. 

Yours very truly, 

William Taylor. 

Boston, Nov., 1849. 
Brother Edmunds : You wish me to write what my 
memory can furnish of any events in the life of the late 
Elder Benjamin Taylor. To gratify his numerous 
friends, and to perpetuate the memory of so excellent a 
man, you are now preparing to publish what you can learn 
of his life and self-denying labors, in a memoir. I am sorry 
I cannot give you some aid in so desirable a work, but really 
I know little or nothing which I think would be interesting 
to your readers in addition to what you already have. 
10 



126 MEMOIR OF 

My first acquaintance with, or knowledge of him, was 
about the time he gave himself up to follow what he believ- 
ed to be a divine impression, directing him to preach the 
gospel to his fellow-man. He came to Boston, and made 
the house where I then boarded his home. I remember 
well his careful studying of the scriptures, his zealous ex- 
hortations, and fervent prayers. He related to me his early 
trials of mind, his voyages at sea, and adventures in foreign 
lands, and how he was led to submit and resolve to do the 
will of God. 

He possessed a vigorous frame and strong muscular 
powers, and was ever ready to be employed in his hours of 
relaxation from study and other religious duties, in any 
kind of labor which he supposed would benefit those who 
needed this kind of assistance. 

In his early efforts at preaching, he suffered much from 
want of mental culture, and that discipline which might 
have enabled him to control the rapid flow of his thoughts, 
and the swift utterance given to them. His voice w T as verv 
strong and piercing, and his words and sentences were 
poured out with such power and rapidity as almost to over- 
whelm the hearer. This defect was in a great measure 
corrected in after life. 

I think he spent several weeks in Boston, and its neigh- 
borhood, the Christian church here being then destitute of 
a pastor. 1 was much of the time in his company, in meet- 
ing, and at home, and he was sometimes my bed-fellow. 
Tn the hours of darkness, I have heard him repeating over 
long lists of scripture texts relating to subjects he had 
been studying, and thus endeavoring to fix them firmly in 
his mind. He strove with all his power to create a revival 
interest in the people with whom he labored, and though in 
a measure successful, he was not so in a degree that satis- 
fied his own ardent desires. 

He went, I think, to New Bedford, and for a time 
preached in that neighborhood. I wrote him frequently, 
and as often received letters from him ; these letters I have 
not now at hand. I remember one of them gave some ac- 
count of his ordination, and of his views and feelings on 
that occasion. 

Our correspondence and particular intimacy ceased aft^r 
a time ; he married and located in Swansey, Once, while 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 127 

he resided there, he was sent to represent that town in our 
legislature, and remained here for several weeks. At 
that time our church was again destitute of a pastor, and 
he rendered very important service, supplying our desk on 
the Sabbath, and doing all in his power to aid us. 

I had but little communication with him after this time, 
excepting occasionally meeting with him in this city, and 
sometimes at other places. I visited him two or three times 
during the last years of his labors at the Bethel in Provi- 
dence. I saw him a few days before his departure for the 
west, and his final release from labor and suffering. He 
was then much distressed for breath, and said but little ; 
his mind appeared to be tranquil, and he hoped a season of 
rest would in a measure restore him. But it appears that 
his work was done ; and he was soon laid low in the dust, 
and, as we hope and believe, has gone to enjoy the u saint's 
everlasting rest." John G. Loring. 



The following extract from a sermon preach- 
ed by Elder Kilton to his own people, on the 
death of Elder Taylor, is much in point : 

" It only remains, in completing the sketch 1 designed to 
give, to take a b*ief view of that lovely character which he 
has left for imitation . 

The writer considered Elder Taylor to have been pos- 
sessed of talents of the first order, especially talents 
adapted to the work of the ministry. As his education 
was limited, I shall not of course speak of him as a literary 
man, but I will venture the assertion, that his hearers were 
often more instructed in matters of philosophical research, 
than is usually the case in sermons of the most learned. 

He had a philosophic, an inquiring mind, a strong mem- 
ory; and the happy faculty of appropriating all his knowl- 
edge, and facts to illustrate, to enrich his discourses. It 
may be said of him most emphatically, that ' he was mighty 
in the scriptures.'' He was familiar with all paits of the 
Bible ; he enriched his sermons with many scripture facts 
and illustrations, and proved his doctrine with such an array 
from the law and the testimony, that the most sceptical 
stood before him convinced. His ideas and his language 



128 



MEMOIR OF 



flowed on like the clear and refreshing- stream, and not un- 
frequently as he advanced, his eloquence would be like the 
torrent and the water-fall. 

But in addition to these faculties, he possessed a deep 
interest in his subject, together with a strong sympathy for 
his hearers, which often caused him to speak as one inspired, 
while the tones of his strong 1 , clear voice seemed almost 
unearthly, as one speaking from the heavenly world. 

With these qualities, as a preacher of the gospel, he 
was, as we should suppose, truly popular; he had large 
congregations, composed of different classes of society. 
Preachers usually interest some particular class of minds 
while Elder Taylor had the power to interest and benefit all- 
The learned and the unlearned, the rich, the poor, the old 
and the young, waited upon his ministry with equal delight, 
and all claimed him as their favorite minister. 

In relation to the qualities of his heart, and the virtues of 
his life, I cannot in this sketch speak at length, though it 
was here he shone the brightest. His character was not 
like a disproportioned edifice, of beaulies and deformities 
standing side by side ; but such a combination of virtues 
and excellencies as presented unusual symmetry and beauty. 
He united the sternest integrity with the kindest charity ; 
great patience and forbearance with fervent zeal : unusual 
modesty and humility with great moral courage, the most 
exalted piety with a kind and faithful attention to his family 
and his pecuniary affairs. His piety was not fitful and 
unsteady, but burned with a constant flame. Though 
fervent in spirit, he was never fanatical, and though he 
manifested a proper respect for forms, yet he was never 
formal. But the crowning excellence of his character, 
was that Christian kindness and sympathy which seemed 
to control, and direct his whole life. This gave pathos 
and power to his public addresses, and a charm to his pri- 
vate conversation ; this made him willing to make great 
pecuniary sacrifices (for he received but small compensation 
for his labors) in the cause of his Master ; this led him 
most tenderly to encourage young converts and young 
preachers. And he was such a l - son of consolation.' such 
an angel of mercy in the sick room, and on funeral occa- 
sions, that his presence was solicited far and near. It was 
this * good will to men,' that caused him to extend his 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 129 

fellowship so widely toward other denominations, and to 
labor so ardently in the cause of temperance and other 
reforms of the day. This finally led him to consecrate 
all upon the altar, in the last seven years of his labor, for 
seamen in Providence. 

Eider Taylor early embraced the principles of, and be- 
came identified with, the Christian Connexion, and was ever 
firm and unwavering in his attachment to the denomination. 
He may be regarded as a pioneer in our cause in New 
England; though he was not the first, he was connected 
with the first ministers and movements of our people. 
When some others spread disorderly and fanatical views 
and practices in the churches, he always stood firm against 
them ; and when Elias Smith (who, from his talents and 
position, was looked up to as a leader,) embraced Univer- 
salism, he, like Moses of old, threw himself into the breach, 
he assisted the churches, encouraged and confirmed them 
in that '"dark and cloudy day.' And in the late '43 move- 
ment, which has spread so much disaster in our churches, 
Elder Taylor, like trie strong oak deeply rooted by encoun- 
tering many storms, remained unmoved. 

But he has gone ! Yet he shall be held in everlasting 
remembrance. The denomination, the ministers, the poor, 
the seamen, and more especially his family, have sustained 
a great loss, but the change to him. is unspeakable gain. 

G. W. Kilton. 

Bristol, Dec. 15, 1848." 



The following, written by Rev. Mr. Hall, 
appeared at the time of Elder Taylor's dealh 
in the Providence Journal, a daily paper of that 
city: 

OBITUARY. DIED IN SCHOOLCRAFT, MICHIGAN, SEPT. 24TH, 
ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, LATE PASTOR OF THE MARINER'S 
CHURCH, OF THIS CITY. 

A good man must not be suffered to pass from the world 
without a record of his worth. Of " Father Taylor ,; there 
are many records, and though nothing should be written, 
enough is known, and will remain, to keep him long in 



130 



MEMOIR OF 



grateful remembrance in this city. A more exact and com- 
plete notice than we can give, will probably be communi- 
cated to a paper of the Christian denomination, by one of 
his own brethren who officiated at hisfuneial. The present 
brief tribute is offered by. one of a different denomination, 
who knew, honored, and loved him, but who would be 
restrained from^ny attempt at eulogy, if by nothing else, 
by the recollection of a humility and dignity combined, 
which always checked the utterance of praise in life, and 
should temper it in death. 

We had no knowledge of Elder Taylor before he came 
to this place, and can give no facts of his early life. It 
was evident that his advantages of education had been very 
limited, but that a vigorous mind, and the strong common 
sense which is better than any other, had done much to 
supply the deficiency. He was a son of the sea, and if 
not born upon it, as we believe the " Father Taylor " of 
Boston was, had known much of its severe but useful dis- 
cipline, was familiar with all its hardships, and felt the 
deepest interest in those who were exposed to its natural 
and moral perils. He knew men, and loved the sailor ; and 
these, with his sound judgment and ready speech, his entire 
integrity and simplicity, his firm and gentle kindness, were 
excellent qualifications for the office of a Bethel minister. 
Whether he held that office before he came here, we do 
not know. He entered upon the work in this city in 1841 ; 
and we doubt if any minister among us has performed a 
greater amount of labor, in a seven years' ministry ; we 
hope no one has received less in the way of pecuniary 
reward. His dependance for that was on the voluntary and 
variable contributions of his own hearers on the Sabbath ; 
and those who remember their condition in life, and the re- 
turn of these calls three times every week, will not suppose 
that he preached for gain. But preaching was the smallest 
part of his work, though by no means confined to the 
Sabbath. In hearing the last discourse which he gave to 
his Society, in which he hastily went over, and modestly 
summed up, the services and labors to which he had been 
called, we were surprised by the variety, and perfectly 
amazed at the amount. We had no difficulty in accounting 
for the breaking down of a strong frame, and the approach- 
ing end of so laborious a life. 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 131 

The "Bethel meeting-house" was built in 1841. Though 
not small, it was soon respectably filled, a church was 
organized in May, 1842, consisting chiefly of sailors and 
their families, a Sunday school was begun and has been 
regularly sustained and well attended ever since, and a large 
temperance society was early formed in connection with the 
Bethel, which has proved more permanent and more wisely 
successful than some similar societies, consisting now of 
about 800 members. The Marine Hospital was considered 
by Mr, Taylor, as a part of his parochial care, to which he 
devoted himself laboriously, and we believe most judicious- 
ly and acceptably to all, without compensation, but not 
without personal charity and sacrifice. Near the Hospital, 
by his arduous perseverance, he procured at last a i burial 
place ? for the sailor, religiously consecrated and perpetually 
secured to that object. This is one of his monuments 
among us. And another, showing the confidence that was 
placed in him, is the fact, that the house in which he 
preached, built after he came, at an expense of four 
thousand dollars, for which the mariners themselves could 
raise but about 700 — a large sum for them — has been 
gradually relieved of its debt by general subscriptions, and 
the mortgage entirely discharged in the very month that he 
was compelled by ill health to depart ; so that the good 
man was blessed in his death, though far away, by the 
cheering assurance, that the Society for which he had so 
faithfully labored, was now completely established and 
free. 

His death was happy. At the close of such a life, how 
could it be otherwise ? He had toiled for man, as a servant 
of God, and a humble follower of Christ. The name of 
Christ he had taken, and wished to be known by no other. 
The Bible was his creed. The gospel was his law and 
doctrine. These, to the best of his humble ability and 
ever charitable judgment, he aimed to unfold and practically 
apply to all the interests of time, and the realities of eter- 
nity, and when death came, though with much suffering, 
he met it calmly, looking to the mercy of God and the 
mediation of Jesus Christ, and saying to those around him, 
44 Do not weep, rny dear children, I am happy, I am 
happy." 



132 MEMOIR OF 

The following obituary notice, from the 
Christian Register, a religious paper of another 
denomination, shows very clearly the esteem 
and love others had for Elder Taylor, as well 
as his own people : 

Elder Benjamin Taylor. — We see in the Palladium, 
we think for the first time, a notice of the death of this 
good man, which occurred on Sunday, the 24th of Sep- 
tember last, in Schoolcraft, Michigan. He was for a short 
time pastor of the Pawtuxet St. (Christian) Church, in 
Providence, R. I., and for about seven years, of the Bethel 
church in the same city. To this last enterprise he gave 
all his soul and strength, and to him its establishment and 
success were greatly indebted. When through aid we be- 
lieve contributed by the Unitarians of Providence, he saw 
the enterprise free from debt, while his own health meantime 
was fast failing, he remarked, " I have nothing more to do 
but to visit my children and die." A kind Providence grat- 
ified this wish of his heart. He rests from his] labors. 
He was a minister of Christ well endowed for his office by 
nature and by grace ; a man of faith and prayer and devot- 
edness; intelligent, versed in the scriptures, sincere, 
catholic, conciliatory, upright, meek, patient, courageous, 
who belonged less to his " Connexion " than to the Church 
Universal. Such men as Elder Taylor we love and respect, 
and cherish their memory with affection, and hope to be 
permitted to greet and unite with them in the heavenly 
world. 



ELDER BENJAMIN" TAYLOR. 133 



CHAPTER XII. 

The calling of seamen honorable — Their conversion — Their 
value to the world — Poetry — The doctrine of the Lord. 

Ix closing this memoir, a few passages found 
on various scraps of paper left by our brother, 
are here inserted. Some are extracts which he 
copied because of their excellence, and the deep 
response which they found in his own spirit ; 
others are thoughts of his own. In either case, 
however, they alike show the heart and sympa- 
thies of the man, and the themes which occupied 
his mind, and filled his soul with delightful con- 
templation : 

THE CALLING OF SEAMEN HONORABLE. 

" The example of Christ, in calling a part of his disciples 
from seafaring" life, is truly encouraging to seamen. Not 
only did our Lord choose some of his apostles from follow- 
ing the sea, but the sea shore itself was often his resort — a 
vessel became his pulpit, and a seaport his residence. 
1 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, 
which is upon the sea coast.' The instance, likewise, of 
the Saviour being with the disciples in a ship, 'and there 
arose a great tempest in the sea—insomuch that the ship was 
covered with waves, and the disciples awoke him and said, 
Lord, save us, we perish ; and he arose and rebuked the 
winds and the sea, and there was a great calm,' — should 
encourage seamen to expect and desire Christ to be with 
them at sea ; having Christ in the vessel, they ran smile at 
the storm. 

11 



134 MEMOIR OF 

" Consider here, for a moment, the history of those, 
who, while they were poor fishermen, were honored by the 
Lord of life and glory, in being called to be his disciples. 

" Simon and Andrew, James and John, were brethren of 
two different families, and dwelt, together with their parents, 
in a village in the district of Galilee, at the northern ex- 
tremity of a lake or sea. It is a large sea to them, and the 
towns that dot its coast, and the ships that skim its waters, 
are the world to them. Day by day they rise up to the 
contented exercise of their toil — to cast the net, to spread 
the sail. They are fishermen, and when successful, dispose 
of their draught in their native village, or neighboring 
towns, for the support of themselves and families. 

" They are friends ; they have joined themselves to each 
other in their humble profession, and agreed to share profit 
and loss, storm and calm together. Their boats contain all 
their wealth. Their fathers, perhaps, were fishermen be- 
fore them, and they have no idea of a different life. The 
only changes which they calculate on, are the changes of 
the weather and the vicissitudes of their calling ; and the 
only interruptions of the even course of their lives, to 
which they look forward, are the three annual journeys 
which they make at the periods of the solemn festival, to 
the city of Jerusalem. 

" Look at them on the shore of their lake. Think not of 
them as apostles, as holy men ; but look at them as they 
actually were, on the morning when you first hear of them 
in the gospels. They have been toiling all the night, and 
have caught nothing ; and now, somewhat disheartened at 
their ill success, they are engaged in spreading their nets, 
washing them, and preparing them, as they hope, for a 
more fortunate expedition. 

' £ Presently they are surrounded by an eager multitude ; 
the great Teacher approaches, to whose instruction some 
of them, before, had listened. With his quiet demeanor 
but irresistible dignity, he draws nigh to the place where 
they are employed. He enters Simon's vessel and prays 
him to thrust out a little distance from the land ; then he 
speaks to the multitude ' as never man spake.' Afterwards 
he bids Simon launch out further and let down his net ' on 
the right side of the ship ;' then follows the miraculous 
draught of fishes ; and then he and his partners, now filled 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 135 

with wonder and awe, are called to quit their boats, and 
throw by their nets, and become fishers of men. 

" And now what a change comes over their lives, dividing 
what was from what is to be ! It was long before they 
themselves were aware how entire, and how stupendous it 
was. In a few years they are the principal actors in the 
most extraordinary event of recorded time. 

" Home, kindred, country, are to be forsaken forever. 
Their nets may hang and bleach in the sun ; their boats 
may rot piecemeal on the shore, for the owners of them 
are far away, sailing overseas to which that of Gennesareth 
is a pond ; exciting whole cities and countries to wonder 
and tumult — ' turning the world upside down;'' answering 
before kings, imprisoned, persecuted, tortured; their whole 
lives a storm, and a greater one than ever swept over their 
lake. On the peaceful shores of that lake, even their bones 
may not rest. Their ashes are to be separated from the 
ashes of their kindred. Their blood is to be sprinkled on 
foreign soils ; the headsman and executioner are to preside 
over their untimely obsequies. 

"A few years more and the fame and the doctrine of these 
fishermen have gone into all the world. Magnificent churches 
are called by their names. Kingdoms adopt them for their 
tutelar saints ; and the men who claim to succeed to the 
office of one of them rule for centuries over all the civilized 
kingdoms, (the Pope) with a despotic and overshadowing 
sway ; and by the virtue of that claim give away a conti- 
nent, a world, which, when their predecessor lived, was 
entirely unknown. 

" History tells us of a fisherman of Sicily, who was 
raised to that island's throne ; but who will compare that, 
or any earthly throne, to the twelve thrones which were 
set up over the twelve tribes of Israel ? What is the king 
of Sicily to an apostle of Christ l A wonderful man has 
risen up in our own, as we call it, wonderful time, risen up 
from a moderate station to the empire of Europe ; and yet 
the eight volumes which another wonderful man has written 
of that emperor's deeds and fortunes, have not preserved 
such a name for his hero as is secured by hardly more than 
eight lines, which tell us of those men who first fished for 
their living on the sea of Galilee, and then were called to 
be fishers of men and to become the apostles of Christ." 



136 MEMOIR OF 



THE CONVERSION OF SEAMEN IS A SUBJECT OF PROPHECY. 

" They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the 
majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. 
Lift up thine eyes round about and see : all they gather 
themselves together, they come to thee ; thy sons shall 
come from afar, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy 
side. Then thou shaltsee and flow together, and thine heart 
shall fear and be enlarged because the abundance of the 
sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles 
shall come unto thee. They that go down to the sea in 
ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works 
of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he com- 
mandeth and raiseth the strong wind which lifteth up the 
waves thereof. They mount up to heaven^ they go down 
again to the depths ; their soul is melted because of trouble. 
They reel to and fro like a drunken man, and are at their 
wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, 
and he bringeth them out of their distress He maketh the 
storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then 
are they glad ; so he bringeth them unto their deserved 
heaven . ' ' 

" THE BLESSING AND VALUE OF CONVERTED SEAMEN 

Is seen, not only in the case of the apostles already cited, 
but also in the fact that the first man who ever preached the 
gospel in modern times in India was a sailor. It was John 
Thomas who went to that country in 1786, and while in 
Calcutta, his spirit was stirred within him when he saw the 
people given to idolatry ; then he preached Christ unto 
them. In 1792 he returned to England, and a few friends 
in Northampton gathered together to hear him tell what he 
had seen and done in India. Among that number was Wil- 
liam Carey, since the great apostle of missions in the East. 
Carey was already imbued with the missionary spirit, 
and a small missionary society had been formed, but had not 
decided where to begin its work. Their minds were now 
directed to this place by this single circumstance. Mr. 
Carey now agreed to accompany Mr. Thomas back to the 
East, and in 1793 they sailed for ' India's coral strand.' 

" The history of missions shows clearly how much seamen 
have done in introducing the gospel in heathen lands, and 
in overthrowing idolatry, especially in the South Sea Isles." 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR. 137 

" Divine grace operating on the hearts of sailors proves 
there is nothing too hard for God. Witness the effects of 
the gospel on the hearts of Newton, Medley, Taylor, and 
others, whose language is, * I obtained mercy of the Lord 
though the chief of sinners.' 

WHAT WOULD BE THE RESULT IF SEAMEN WERE TO BECOME 
UNIVERSALLY PIOUS? 

" It would be most glorious in every respect. Wherever 
they went, they would carry and proclaim the gospel of the 
grace of God. Every vessel would bear a treasure more 
precious than the wealth of the Indies — the glad tidings of 
salvation through a crucified Redeemer. The light of the 
gospel would soon shine in every dark corner of the earth. 
May w r e not hope for the arrival of such a period, and such 
a blessing ? Yes, such a change will take place. God 
himself has declared it : •' I will pour my Spirit upon all 
flesh ;'-and the promise secures to Christ, * the heathen for 
his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his 
possession— -and that his kingdom and dominion shall be from 
sea even to sea, and from the river to the ends of the 
earth.' < Then they shall see and flow together, and the 
abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, and the 
forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.' This may 
take place shortly ; it may proceed with astonishing rapidi- 
ty. God can overrule and set in motion a thousand influ- 
ences at once, to accomplish his great purposes. ' Lord 
God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee ? or to 
thy faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulqst the raging 
of the sea ; when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest 
them.' Ps. 89: 9. God can employ the sailors for this 
end as he employed Peter, Andrew and James. 

" It is estimated that there are three millions of seamen in 
the world ; now suppose these men were to become pious 
and devoted Christians, what an influence they would exert 
over the entire face of the globe. Not an island, not a 
river, not a seaport, but would be penetrated with the gospel. 

" Even if the one hundred and forty-four thousands of 
sailors in the United States were truly converted to God, 
and living disciples of Christ, what a glorious army of mis? 
sionaries we should send out from these shores ! The 
descent of the Holy Spirit upon Peter on the day of Pente- 
cost is encouragement to pray and to labor for seamen." 
11* 



I3b MEMOIR Oh 



PALESTINE. 

" Blest land of Judea ! thrice hallowed of song, 
"Where the holiest of memories pilgrim-like throng, 
In the shade of thy palms, by the shores of thy sea, 
On the hills of thy beauty, my heart is with thee, 

With the eye of a spirit, I look on that shore, 
Where pilgrim and prophet have lingered before, 
With the glide of a spirit 1 traverse the sod, 
Made bright by the steps of the angels of God. 

Blue sea of the hills ! — in my spirit, I hear 
Thy waters, Gennesareth, chime on my ear ; 
Where the Lowly and Just with the people sat down, 
And the spray on the dust of His sandals was thrown, 

I tread where the Twelve in their wayfaring trod : 
I stand where they stood with the chosen of God — 
Where Ris blessing was heard and His lessons were taught, 
Where the blind were restored and the healing was wrought. 

But what if my feet may not tread where He stood, 
Nor my ears hear the dashing of Galilee's flood, 
Nor my eyes see the cross which He bowed him to bear, 
Nor my knees press Gethsemane's garden of prayer ? 

Yet loved of the Father, thy spirit is near 
To the meek, and the lowly, and penitent here ; 
And the voice of thy love is the same even now, 
As at Bethany's tomb or on Olivet's brow. 

O, the outward hath gone ! — but, in glory and power 
The spirit surviveththe things of an hour : 
Unchanged, undecaying, its Pentecost flame 
On the heart's secret altar is burning the same !" 



THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD. 

" My doctrine is not mine but his that sent me." The 
Holy Scriptures are the word of God. a revelation of his 
will. " All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and 
is profitable for doctrine." * * * They teach, 



ELDER BENJAMIN TAYLOR, 139 

1st. That there is but one God, the Father, Maker of 
heaven and earth. " Hear Israel, the Lord our God is 
one Lord ; but to us there is one God the Father, of whom 
are all things." That the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of 
God, the Saviour of men ; that he " was with the Father 
before the foundation of the world," and that he "came 
into the world to save sinners ;" that he made an atonement 
for sin, having " died for our sins according the Scriptures, 
was buried and rose again the third day according to the 
Scriptures," and ascended on high at "the right hand of 
the Father,'' where he "ever liveth to make intercession 
for us ;" and that from thence, in the end of the world, he 
" will come again, the second time without sin unto salva- 
tion," to " raise the dead" and "judge the world in right- 
eousness." That the Holy Spirit is the "Comforter" 
promised by Christ, which " reproves the world of sin of 
righteousness and of judgment, ? ' which " helpeth our in- 
firmities," by which " holy men of God spake as they were 
moved upon by the Holy Ghost," and which was abundant- 
ly poured out on the day of Pentecost. 

2d. That man is feai fully lost in sin, and must be con- 
verted, become regenerate and changed, or he cannot be 
saved : for " except a man be born again he cannot see the 
kingdom of God. Without holiness no man shall see the 
Lord," and " if any man have not the spirit of Christ he 
is none of his;" but " if he be in Christ, he is a new 
creature, old things having passed away and behold ail 
things become new ;" he will therefore " walk in newness 
of life. That " repentance towards God and faith towards 
our Lord Jesus Christ," repentance for, and turning from, 
sin, receiving Christ by faith, giving our hearts to God, 
"obeying from the heart the form of doctrine delivered 
unto us, ? ' are conditions of salvation : and hence it is writ- 
ten that "repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached in Chrises name among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt 
be saved. Not by works of righteousness which we have 
done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the wash- 
ing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, 
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our 
Saviour." 

3d. That the apostolic church, called the church of God. 



140 MEMOIR OF 

the church of Christ, is " built on the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
corner stone :" built upon the Rock Christ Jesus, u against 
which the gates of hell shall not prevail ;" and that all holy, 
regenerate souls are members thereof, " whose names are 
written in heaven." 

4th. That the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's 
Supper are to be faithfully observed in the churches, even 
as our Lord commanded, saying, "Go ye into all the world 
and preach the gospel to every creature : he that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not 
shall be damned — baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." And of the 
communion, " this do in remembrance of me — for as often 
as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth 
the Lord's death till he come." This being the Lord's ta- 
ble and not man's, the Lord's people should come to it : 
even " all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and 
in truth," for " this is the love of God that ye keep his 
commandments." 

5th. That union and love among the disciples of Christ 
is both a duty and powerful means of recommending his 
religion in the world, even as our Lord prayed, " that they 
all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in Thee : 
that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me" — and " by this shall all men know that 
ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another ; a 
new commandment give 1 unto you that ye love one 
another," that ;t whoso doeth the will of my Father which 
is in heaven, the same is my mother, sister and brother, 
for one is your Master even Christ, and all ye are breth- 
ren ;" that to secure this, we must each seek for purity of 
heart, and holiness of life, being fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord, and growing in grace and in the knowledge of 
Christ. 

6th. They also teach the " resurrection, of the dead, 
both of the just and of the unjust," a "judgment to come," 
that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of 
Christ," — when the Saviour will separate between the 
righteous and the wicked, and will place the one upon his 
right hand, and the other upon his left, and declare the 
solemn sentence, " these shall go away into everlasting 
punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 



APPENDIX. 



Elder Jones being the first minister in New England who 
embraced and advocated the free principles of the Christian 
Connexion, it was thought a brief sketch of his life might be 
interesting to the readers of the preceding pages. 

Elder Abner Jones was born in Royaiton, Mass., April 28, 
1772. When eight years of age, his father moved to Bridg- 
water, Windsor County, Vt. Here he experienced religion, 
when fourteen years of age, but made no open profession till 
some years after. He eDgaged in school teaching when 19 
years old, and was accustomed to pray with his school. At 
the age of 21 he was baptized, and jomed the Baptist. Chuuh. 
He, after this, studied medicine, and became a practising phy- 
sic an of considerable eminence ; from whicn ciicumstence 
he was usually called Dr. Jones. He says, " during previous 
years, I often felt much of the time, that some day I should 
have to preach the gospel." He moved to Lyndon, Vt., in 
1796, where he was very successful in the practice of medi- 
cine, and where he was also married. During the third y<=ar 
of his residence here, a powerful reformation broke out, which 
had a great effect on bis mind. He says, " at length my im- 
pressions were so strong that I could not conceal them, and I 
never found relief until I came to the determination to do my 
duty, which was, frst, to confess and forsake ; secondly, to 
take up my testimony which I had laid down. My confession 
I made both public and private, at meetings, among my neigh- 
bors, and in my own family. This caused no small stir among 
the people. Some said one thing, and some another. 

" The duty of preaching was now stronger on my mind than 
ever, and 1 knew not what to do. At times, I was greatiy 
tried about sacrificing all my prospects of worldly gain, which 
were very considerable. At a certain time, when retired by 



142 APPENDIX. 

myself and inquiring of the Lord what I should do, this scrip- 
ture came to me with great force, ' a man's gift rnaketh room 
for him and bringeth him before great men.' These words 
greatly calmed my mind. I now made a solemn vow to God 
that if he would open a door for me to preach, without any 
effort of my own, I would consider it as room made for me, 
and would go ferward whenever the way opened. I said 
nothing to any one, that I might see if the Lord put it into the 
heart of any one to ask me to come and attend meeting with 
them. 

e< Not long after, I was called to attend a sick person, some 
distance, and while on the way thither, I fell into religious 
conversation with the man that came for me, whereupon he 
freely informed me that he had been much exercised in times 
past on religion, but that his neighbors all made light of these 
things, except one or two. He finally desired me to come and 
hold a meeting at his house After some hesitation, I consented 
to do so on a certain Sabbath, in case I was not called away to 
attend the sick. When the day arrived, I had a number of 
sick to attend ; I however visited them in the forenoon, and 
rode to the meeting in the afternoon. As I rode along, I prayed 
in spirit continually, that the Lord would decide the doubtful 
case that day, whether he had called me to preach or not. If 
he had not called me, I prayed to be confounded before the 
people, and that my mouth might be stopped ; but on the other 
hand, if God had called me, that he would give me a message 
from heaven. While on the way thither, these words came to 
my mind, * But they made light of it.' With the blessing of 
God, my mind was now raised above every trial and feir ; 
notwithstanding I was about to attempt something very great, 
solemn, and to me, very new. My mind was very much drawn 
out on this subject, and God's Spirit was present, to aid and to 
bless, and it seemed to me that the people heard as for their 
lives." . 

Elder Jones commenced preaching in September, 1801, and 
gathered a small church the same year, in Lyndon, Vt. Another 
he organized at Bradford, Vt., in 1802 ; and a third, in Pier- 
mont and Haverhill, N. H., in 1803. A church also in Ports- 
mouth, was gather a little later the same year, by Elias Smith. 

Eider Jones had joined the Calvinist Baptists in 1793, and 
voluntarily withdrew in 1794, when he made the following 
declaration : " I receive the Bible as an all-sufficient rule of 
faith and practice." 2 Tim. 3 : 16. " I reject all articles and 
denominational names, as applied to the disciples of Christ, 
except that of Christian." Acts 11 : 26. 



APPENDIX. 143 

The southern branch of the Christian Connexion arose in 
1793, chiefly within Virginia and North Carolina, among whom 
was Elder James O 'Kelly. The eastern branch in New Eng- 
land, arose about 180 0, through the instrumentality of Elder 
Jones. The third, or western branch, in Kentucky, arose 
about 1803, under the labors, chiefly of Eider Barton W. 
Stone. 

Elder Jones ever believed firmly in the following summary 
of Christian doctrine : One God the Father, one Lord Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of men, and the Holy 
Spirit, called the Holy Ghost, the Comforter promised by 
Christ ; in the lost state of man in sin, and the only way of 
salvation, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and repentance 
towards God ; in the necessity of the atonement, the forgive- 
ness of sins, a change of heart, and holiness of life. He 
believed in the apostolic church, baptism, the communion of 
saints, the resurrection of the dead, a judgment to come, and 
in the second coming of Christ in the end of the world ; 
the future blessedness of the righteous, and punishment of the 
wicked, A strong and living iaith in these solemn truths, led 
him to preach with direct reference to the salvation of lost 
men, and made him, as he truly was, a flaming minister of 
Christ, an instrument under God, of turning many to righteous- 
ness. He was ordained in 1802, by the Freewill, Bap~ 
tists, but did not feel free to join them. 

In the spring of 1803, he preached in Portsmouth, N. H., 
and in July, in Boston. The following autumn, Elias Smith 
embraced these views, and in 1804 Elder Jones organized a 
church in Boston, and for a time, was its pastor. In 1807, he 
also gathered a church in Salem, and was settled over it as 
pastor for some years. 

In 1813, he took charge of the Christian Church in Ports 
mouth, N. H., where Elder Elias Smith had preached. In 
1814, owing to the exposure of Portsmouth to the British ships 
of war, and the continued alarms and dangers, he moved his 
family to Stratham, ten miles into the country, while he trav- 
elled and preached. In 1815, he moved to Hopkinton, N. H., 
and w r as pastor of the church for years there. This year the 
spotted fever raged fearfully, which called him into the prac- 
tice of medicine again for a time. In 1821, he again settled 
with the church in Salem ; and in the summer of 1829 he 
asked leave of absence to travel for some time west. It was 
granted, and in July we hear of him in Saratoga , N. Y. In Sept. 
he was very sick, and for weeks together his life was 
despaired of ; but recovering, he visited and preached in 



144 APPENDIX. 

Dutchess county, N. Y., and remained there for some time. 
He intended, when he commenced this journey west, to have 
travelled into Ohio and Kentucky, but his sickness prevented. 
He finally resigned his charge of the church in Salem, Mass., 
and for a season took charge of the church in Milan, N. Y. 
In 1833, he returned to New England, and after travelling 
some time, was called to take charge of the church in Assoaet, 
Mass. While there, he lost his wife, who died in the 67th year 
of her age. In 1837, he left Assonet, and travelled. Next 
he settled at Upton, Mass. In 1839, he married his second 
wife, and remained at Upton till 1840, when he purchased 
a pleasant homestead in Exeter, N. H. There he re- 
sided until his death, which occurred May 29, 1841, in the 
70th year of his age. He desired Elder E. Shaw to preach at 
his funeral, which he did, to the joy and comfort of the 
mourning circle. 

Elder Jones was a noble man, a sound preacher, a true and 
safe reformer, in early and middle life, a flaming herald of 
salvation, witnessing many glorious revivals of religion. He 
was most successful as an evangelist. His influence, his spirit, 
and the whole bearing of the man, was of a most salutary 
character. From the first to the last, he heM finnly the great 
truths of revealed religion, not being "carried about with 
every wind of doctrine.'' He has left an unsullied reputatijn, 
an exalted pattern of self-sacrifice and devotion to God's 
cause. His example and influence live on to encourage and 
gladden the hearts of many who remember him still with un- 
mingled joy, while others, following after, shall rise up to call 
him blessed. 



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